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Greetings - I am new, and this is my first post :-)
I mean to write a longer post elsewhere introducing myself and my situation, but there is one aspect that really surprised me and seems (to me anyway!) to warrant a thread here. So I will dispense with all the details and mention just two things:
1. I am born and raised (mostly) in Canada - ergo, my familiarity is with a very different legal system... And I do not at all wish to say one is better than another, except in this one respect:
2. It seems that if someone or some thing (like, say, a bank) decides to take you to court, they are not obliged to let you know. However, the court is obliged to send out a notice in some cases at least, but it seems what they send can vary.
Now, here is what knocked me out: They are NOT required to send it by any kind of registered post. This means...
if the mail boy drops it before it gets to the post, you won't know you have been called to court.
if the postal workers go on strike, or there is a backlog of mail, or your letter falls out of a bag, or it is Xmas, or really a lot of possible things...
You won't know that you have an up and coming court case. So you will naturally not think either to prepare nor to appear. And so a judgment in default will be made against you. And you will suffer.
And at a minimum, this is NOT fair...
This happened to me TWICE in one year - in fact, since I have only had to deal with two cases in the UK ever, I can say that EVERY TIME I have been served to go to court, I have not received notifcation in a timely way...
Yet, when I spoke to a solicitor about it, it seems that is no argument.
I am really scratching my head - how can this be accepted practice? How can the CPR not recognize that in at least 1% of cases, this is going to happen? How can the burden of an impossible proof be placed on unwitting (non) recipients of orders to be served?
I really love the quirky side of England, what gives it exceptional charm. However, this quirk resulted in my house having a charging order placed on it...
Can anyone enlighten me how this can be okay?
I mean to write a longer post elsewhere introducing myself and my situation, but there is one aspect that really surprised me and seems (to me anyway!) to warrant a thread here. So I will dispense with all the details and mention just two things:
1. I am born and raised (mostly) in Canada - ergo, my familiarity is with a very different legal system... And I do not at all wish to say one is better than another, except in this one respect:
2. It seems that if someone or some thing (like, say, a bank) decides to take you to court, they are not obliged to let you know. However, the court is obliged to send out a notice in some cases at least, but it seems what they send can vary.
Now, here is what knocked me out: They are NOT required to send it by any kind of registered post. This means...
if the mail boy drops it before it gets to the post, you won't know you have been called to court.
if the postal workers go on strike, or there is a backlog of mail, or your letter falls out of a bag, or it is Xmas, or really a lot of possible things...
You won't know that you have an up and coming court case. So you will naturally not think either to prepare nor to appear. And so a judgment in default will be made against you. And you will suffer.
And at a minimum, this is NOT fair...
This happened to me TWICE in one year - in fact, since I have only had to deal with two cases in the UK ever, I can say that EVERY TIME I have been served to go to court, I have not received notifcation in a timely way...
Yet, when I spoke to a solicitor about it, it seems that is no argument.
I am really scratching my head - how can this be accepted practice? How can the CPR not recognize that in at least 1% of cases, this is going to happen? How can the burden of an impossible proof be placed on unwitting (non) recipients of orders to be served?
I really love the quirky side of England, what gives it exceptional charm. However, this quirk resulted in my house having a charging order placed on it...
Can anyone enlighten me how this can be okay?
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