Application to Add or Substiture Parties (County Court Claim)

[MrsMEC]

Hi

I have an old Judgment (July 2016) which has been making me go grey! The defendant is a business that failed to repair an automotive part, despite paying for the test and successful repair fee. To cut a long story short, the summary of court action thus far is:

A warrant of execution failed as there were no assets at the business address which turned out to be a post drop address. The only other address known at the time was their Accountant's.

An interim third party debt order to the defendant's bank failed as the bank account details given were not not found. On further investigation into this I discovered that the paperwork/receipt I have is in the business name (a limited company) but the bank account it operates is the Director/owner's personal bank account! The court were not prepared to amend the third party debt order as the claim/Judgment are not in the bank account holder's name.

So bearing in mind that the defendant processed my purchase from them using the business name (receipt) and personal name (payment/bank account), my question is this:

Do I have sufficient justification to submit an Application to add the owner's name to the claim, under CPR 19.4?

My other option is to apply to change the name on the claim, but I am hesitant to do this as it would start the whole process again and a lot of money (fees etc) has already gone into this in obtaining the Judgment etc.

Any assistance/advice would be appreciated please?

Thank you.

[Amethyst]

Re: Application to Add or Substiture Parties (County Court Claim)

Was the business a Ltd company? And is that company still 'Active' at companies house?

If it was a judgment against a Ltd co then no, you won't be able to change the judgment to the Directors personal details without showing that the Director is personally liable.

How did you make the original payment ? bank transfer or c/d/card ?

[MrsMEC]

Re: Application to Add or Substiture Parties (County Court Claim)

Thank you for your response.

Yes, they are a Limited Company, but because the Director was putting all the income directly into his personal bank account I'd assumed that he was personally liable. Perhaps I have got this wrong?

I paid by bank payment and have already challenged the bank as I'd put the business name as the payee. Apparently, when paying anything online, it doesn't matter what you call the payee, the payment will still go though!

I have since learnt that the owner lives in California and runs the business bank account in America too. My only chance now is the recent discovery of a house on the South Coast which is still in their name.

So somehow, I desperately need to get their name on the claim....