Misunderstood deadline for submitting defence

[tekelt]

Hi. As defendant in a case on moneyclaim.gov.uk I submitted an Acknowledgement of Service. Unfortunately I misread the "If you file an acknowledgment of service but do not file a defence within 28 days of the date of service of the claim form" statement on the AoS sheet as 28 days from the original deadline to respond to the claim, ie approx 14 days later than it actually was. Default judgement was given before I entered a defence. I believe I have a reasonable defence to the original claim. Could you help point me to the most relevant forum for advice as to whether it is worth asking for the judgement to be set aside, based on the misunderstanding of the deadline. I realise after reading LegalBeagles advice pages that this isn't a reason that falls under those where Judgement has to be set aside, but is it likely to be a reason that a judge will use his/her discretion to set the judgement aside anyway?

[pt2537]

Hi. As defendant in a case on moneyclaim.gov.uk I submitted an Acknowledgement of Service. Unfortunately I misread the "If you file an acknowledgment of service but do not file a defence within 28 days of the date of service of the claim form" statement on the AoS sheet as 28 days from the original deadline to respond to the claim, ie approx 14 days later than it actually was. Default judgement was given before I entered a defence. I believe I have a reasonable defence to the original claim. Could you help point me to the most relevant forum for advice as to whether it is worth asking for the judgement to be set aside, based on the misunderstanding of the deadline. I realise after reading LegalBeagles advice pages that this isn't a reason that falls under those where Judgement has to be set aside, but is it likely to be a reason that a judge will use his/her discretion to set the judgement aside anyway?

Ok, this is a common error however you now need to move very quickly indeed.

To set aside judgment, the Court does have the power to make such an order under CPR rule 13.3 if it determines that the Defendant has a real prospect of successfully defending the claim, or there is some other compelling reason why the judgment should be set aside and the Defendant allowed to defend the case.

I dont know if you have a defence but the CPR does specify that you must act promptly in making the application, any delay can scupper your case.