water summons

[kippax16]

hi
really annoyed with myself got a summons from UNITED UTILITIES PLC. i owe the money i just forgot to pay the dam thing but i got no reminders. just the summons. the name on it is incorrect.

i have a couple of questions.

can i negotiate paying installments with out judgement.

can i refuse the summons because the name is incorrectly on the summons.

thanks
#

[miliitant]

Re: water summons

well you can claim costs if their was no pre action protocol

in what way is the name incorrect

you will get 28 days after the judgement before it is registered as a ccj

[gwenlillian]

Re: water summons

Hi - is this a summons to a hearing or a judgement? If the hearing has not happened yet you can advise the court in your defence that the court protocols have not been complied with and get it thrown out. The CPR pre-action rules are listed online and if you read through them highlight the ones that are breached. If they already have judgement and you again, did not get the right papers at the right times etc., you can apply to have the judgement set aside. If you have the money and are going to settle the account either way, you can pay it straight away and advise the court that it is settled and therefore the CCJ need not be entered. However, that means you will be paying court fees and costs as well when you are not obliged to. You could tell your water company that you intend to challenge this and offer them to option to get the judgement cancelled themselves, they probably owe you compensation too for messing it up and the potential to wreck you credit file with the judgement. Hope you can sort it okay, I have had this same thing with Anglian Water, who went into court for a CCJ when the account was already paid and they had to remove the order and pay £200. Good luck.

[kippax16]

Re: water summons

hi
really annoyed with myself got a summons from UNITED UTILITIES PLC. i owe the money i just forgot to pay the dam thing but i got no reminders. just the summons. the name on it is incorrect.

i have a couple of questions.

can i negotiate paying installments with out judgement.

can i refuse the summons because the name is incorrectly on the summons.

thanks
#

1st half of surname is correct the rest isnt.

i dont remember any letters being sent to me.

[alham]

Re: water summons

Sometimes they will send RED, red bill warning but majority try with bailiff companies first. Follow gwenlillian's advice. Contact both the company and the court, with court speak to the clerk, tell them that you had no notification of the case or any other paperwork and how do you go about setting the judgement aside. Is there a court near you? can you go there in person, fill in an appropriate form and get it witnessed there.

[gwenlillian]

Re: water summons

Hi - I think you have 28 days to get this in from the date of the order,

"Setting Aside a Judgment in the County Court

If you need to request for a County Court Judgment to be set aside, then there are certain rules that apply first. For example; if you have not received the claims form, if you have recently moved and not been receiving post, an order was made against you in your absence, you feel there is an error in the judgment, you wanted to put in a defence but was not given the opportunity or the proceedings did not follow the court rules. If any of these apply to you, then you should be able to request to set aside a judgment.

Requesting to Set Aside a Default Judgment

A default judgment that is made against you usually happens with no hearing, when you do not send back the "Acknowledgement of Service" form to request to put in a defence. It can also be set against you if you did not send in a reply form, asking for time to pay within a certain period of time. However, you should not have a default judgment set against you if you paid off the total amount which you owed.

If you do have a default judgment then the court must set it aside if you have either; sent back the acknowledgement of service form within the requested period of time, if you have put in a defence within the time limit or sent back the reply form requesting for time to pay within the time frame. If you have not sent the reply form back within the requested time period, then the courts may still agree to set aside the default judgment if they think –

1. You have a strong defence, that has a good chance at being successful
2. If they believe you have a good reason to set aside the judgment, for example; you didn’t receive the paperwork in time.
Applying to Set Aside a Judgment

To apply to set aside a judgment, you must first of all ask the court for an application form (this is called a N244). When filling it out you need to include:

• Details of your creditor or claimant.
• The claim number of the case.
• The reasons for your request.
• Any information you have about your possible defence.
• Request the court to stop any enforcement of the judgment until after the hearing to set the judgment aside."

Hope this is of some assistance, you can download the Form from the web.