Can a small claims court case be brought twice?

[georgd84]

Hi

In April 2018 I won a county court case brought by a collections agency and the judge ordered them to pay me £750 in compensation. The case was widely reported at the time..

I was surprised when I received a Letter before Claim last week (almost four years later) from a firm of solicitors for the same alleged parking charge.

I have written to them pointing out the case has been dealt with in court.

Can the parking company through their solicitors bring a second action for debt over an alleged unpaid parking charge which has already been claimed and lost by another company to whom they had assigned the debt?

Some more facts in case they help.

The original parking charge notice was received on 30/05/2017.

I have found a copy of the judgement which I will summarise. The main reasons the judge found in my favour were.

1. The agency uses false names in court documents.

2. The PCN gave the wrong carpark name.

3. The agency failed to comply with FCA rules regarding disputed debt.

4. The agency failed to comply with court rules regarding the service of documents.

and this is the interesting one I guess -

5. The assignment document 'may not' have been legal as it was clearly photocopied and witnessed by someone whom also appeared to have a made up name.

I am extremely grateful for any help and interest and my main question is - can a civil case be brought back to a court after it has been determined.

If that is allowed then anyone could correct matters that a judge didn't like and then keep returning until they won. In criminal cases 'double jeopardy' is mostly not allowed.

Very interested in your thoughts

David

[MIKE770]

ostell have you come across this type before?

[jaguarsuk]

In a word, No.

If they file a claim you will simply need to apply for their statement of case to be struck out due to the claim already having been heard. You evidence will be the case file and judgement of the previous claim.

[georgd84]

In a word, No.

If they file a claim you will simply need to apply for their statement of case to be struck out due to the claim already having been heard. You evidence will be the case file and judgement of the previous claim.

Thank you. My concern is that the parking company are using the judgement that the original assignment to an agency 'may not' have been legal to claim the debt back for themselves and seek payment for themselves.

[jaguarsuk]

That won't wash, they had their shot for that numbered PCN and they blew it.

[R0b]

Out of curiosity what has the FCA got to do with a parking charge? Parking charges are based on a simple contractual arrangement rather than any kind of financial credit.

If I were in your shoes, I would be putting the solicitors on notice that if their client pursue this matter by issuing proceedings, then you will seek to counterclaim for harassment and the recovery of any costs incurred as a result of defending a matter what has already been adjudged and the bringing of a second claim is an abuse of process. Get them to confirm in writing that they will not be proceeding any further.

[georgd84]

Out of curiosity what has the FCA got to do with a parking charge? Parking charges are based on a simple contractual arrangement rather than any kind of financial credit.

If I were in your shoes, I would be putting the solicitors on notice that if their client pursue this matter by issuing proceedings, then you will seek to counterclaim for harassment and the recovery of any costs incurred as a result of defending a matter what has already been adjudged and the bringing of a second claim is an abuse of process. Get them to confirm in writing that they will not be proceeding any further.

The agency involved MIL Collections of Truro claims to be registered with the FCA whose rules regarding disputed debt they ignored. My layman advocate used this as one example of them being a disreputable company which the judge accepted and then mentioned in his judgement.

Thank you for your advice, at this time I have written to them pointing out the matter has been dealt with previously and I am waiting for their response.
Will post here what they say.