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Re: Paying a CCJ but now threatened with a Statutory Demand. Why? Help, please.
Summary and developments-----------------------re statutory demand
1. Just over a year ago, I (as claimant) took an ex friend to court (defendant) as he was harassing me. I was requesting an injunction against him under Protection From Harassment Act 1997.
2. I represented myself.
3. There was an initial hearing that I attended, along with the defendant and the defendant's solicitor. A date was set for the second hearing.
4. Before the second hearing , I struck out the hearings on health grounds, wrongly and mistakenly informing all parties of this fact by letter as opposed to using form N279.
5. The defendant's solicitor attended the second hearing that I didn't think was going to happen (as I believed I had already struck out proceedings by the letter) and proceedings were struck out formally, in my absence.
6. A week later after this, in August 2013, I received an N244, with the exact wording ------ "IT IS ORDERED THATThe claimant do pay the Defendants costs assessed at £2k".
7. With my background of accountancy, I did NOT understand it was a CCJ (If I had done, I would have immediately disputed the amount AND if that didn't work, I would have applied for a Tomlin order AND if that didn't work my family and friends would have paid it in 30 days to save my career so the embarrassing CCJ would not appear on credit reports)....I honestly believed it was an invoice, admittedly for an extortionate amount, that I would fight, in due course when, as I assumed, the creditor would start chasing me for payment
8. After hearing nothing for two months I wrote a letter to the court (October 2013), saying that I would pay the £2k in a few months (as I believed I would get a job soon) and I stupidly did not question the amount .
8. After hearing nothing for four months I formally requested a hearing re the £2k (February 2014) - I requested a suspension only (as I still honestly believed I would get a job soon) - the result was that I was ordered to pay £1 per month by the judge at the Hearing.
9. The wording of the N244 (April 2014) is"IT IS ORDERED THATThe Claimant to pay the debt at the rate of £1 per month"
10. The defendant's solicitor threatened me with bailiffs by phone soon after.
11. I wrote to him and very stupidly said in the letter -"If you had informed me of your costs BEFORE obtaining the CCJ from the court, my parents would have sold their car and the debt would have been paid on my behalf, since I have no money or assets". This is true by the way...and demonstrates how little I understood things
12. The solicitor rang back and said he was not going to pursue bailiffs but instead pursue a statutory demand instead...morally repugnant , I know,........ but I had sadly made him realise in my letter to him that the debt would be paid on my behalf by other people close to me, since they want to help me ---- an accountant prefers a "satisfied CCJ" as opposed to "bankruptcy" on credit reports, which are looked at by prospective employers
13. I have no genuine reason to get the CCJ set aside....in fact, the defendant's solicitor rang me and said that, in a hypothetical situation, I would have been expected to phone the court if I didn't know what to do about the original N244 ordering me to pay £2k, and my chances of set aside are virtually nil.
14. He then said that "as a favour" (ahem), when the CCJ was paid, he would make a cross reference on the "explanatory notes / notice of correction" for my credit reports - i.e. a letter from the solicitor (him) explaining that ""I didn't realise it was a CCJ and that as soon as I
did,the CCJ was paid immediately"".....a slight improvement to my credit report:tinysmile_cry_t: ???
15a. PS - one last thing, of the £2k, the solicitor explained £1.5k would go to pay off the defendant's debt to him...BUT why should I pay those costs as the defendant didn't win the case? It was merely struck off.
15b. Moreover, the solicitor kept saying, the debt I have to pay relates purely to "legal costs" as a result of me not completing the N279 and the solicitor having to attend court himself to formally strike off proceedings. ...and that costs £2k...REALLY?:tinysmile_cry_t:
BRILLIANT FORUM -THANKS!..You've all been brilliant in "giving your opinion" so far in my case. I would be really grateful if you could give me your opinion on whether I should try to set aside the CCJ. :tinysmile_grin_t::tinysmile_grin_t::tinysmile_gri n_t:Personally, I think that sometimes you have to just accept the slap in the face and move on...is getting the CCJ paid on my behalf my best course of action, do you think? To be honest, I'm so angry with the moral repugnancy of going down the statutory demand route, knowing I have no money myself...but on the one per cent chance (IMO) that I fight the bankruptcy petition and lose, it will literally bankrupt my family as well as me to pay thousands of pounds more costs...
Summary and developments-----------------------re statutory demand
1. Just over a year ago, I (as claimant) took an ex friend to court (defendant) as he was harassing me. I was requesting an injunction against him under Protection From Harassment Act 1997.
2. I represented myself.
3. There was an initial hearing that I attended, along with the defendant and the defendant's solicitor. A date was set for the second hearing.
4. Before the second hearing , I struck out the hearings on health grounds, wrongly and mistakenly informing all parties of this fact by letter as opposed to using form N279.
5. The defendant's solicitor attended the second hearing that I didn't think was going to happen (as I believed I had already struck out proceedings by the letter) and proceedings were struck out formally, in my absence.
6. A week later after this, in August 2013, I received an N244, with the exact wording ------ "IT IS ORDERED THATThe claimant do pay the Defendants costs assessed at £2k".
7. With my background of accountancy, I did NOT understand it was a CCJ (If I had done, I would have immediately disputed the amount AND if that didn't work, I would have applied for a Tomlin order AND if that didn't work my family and friends would have paid it in 30 days to save my career so the embarrassing CCJ would not appear on credit reports)....I honestly believed it was an invoice, admittedly for an extortionate amount, that I would fight, in due course when, as I assumed, the creditor would start chasing me for payment
8. After hearing nothing for two months I wrote a letter to the court (October 2013), saying that I would pay the £2k in a few months (as I believed I would get a job soon) and I stupidly did not question the amount .
8. After hearing nothing for four months I formally requested a hearing re the £2k (February 2014) - I requested a suspension only (as I still honestly believed I would get a job soon) - the result was that I was ordered to pay £1 per month by the judge at the Hearing.
9. The wording of the N244 (April 2014) is"IT IS ORDERED THATThe Claimant to pay the debt at the rate of £1 per month"
10. The defendant's solicitor threatened me with bailiffs by phone soon after.
11. I wrote to him and very stupidly said in the letter -"If you had informed me of your costs BEFORE obtaining the CCJ from the court, my parents would have sold their car and the debt would have been paid on my behalf, since I have no money or assets". This is true by the way...and demonstrates how little I understood things
12. The solicitor rang back and said he was not going to pursue bailiffs but instead pursue a statutory demand instead...morally repugnant , I know,........ but I had sadly made him realise in my letter to him that the debt would be paid on my behalf by other people close to me, since they want to help me ---- an accountant prefers a "satisfied CCJ" as opposed to "bankruptcy" on credit reports, which are looked at by prospective employers
13. I have no genuine reason to get the CCJ set aside....in fact, the defendant's solicitor rang me and said that, in a hypothetical situation, I would have been expected to phone the court if I didn't know what to do about the original N244 ordering me to pay £2k, and my chances of set aside are virtually nil.
14. He then said that "as a favour" (ahem), when the CCJ was paid, he would make a cross reference on the "explanatory notes / notice of correction" for my credit reports - i.e. a letter from the solicitor (him) explaining that ""I didn't realise it was a CCJ and that as soon as I
did,the CCJ was paid immediately"".....a slight improvement to my credit report:tinysmile_cry_t: ???
15a. PS - one last thing, of the £2k, the solicitor explained £1.5k would go to pay off the defendant's debt to him...BUT why should I pay those costs as the defendant didn't win the case? It was merely struck off.
15b. Moreover, the solicitor kept saying, the debt I have to pay relates purely to "legal costs" as a result of me not completing the N279 and the solicitor having to attend court himself to formally strike off proceedings. ...and that costs £2k...REALLY?:tinysmile_cry_t:
BRILLIANT FORUM -THANKS!..You've all been brilliant in "giving your opinion" so far in my case. I would be really grateful if you could give me your opinion on whether I should try to set aside the CCJ. :tinysmile_grin_t::tinysmile_grin_t::tinysmile_gri n_t:Personally, I think that sometimes you have to just accept the slap in the face and move on...is getting the CCJ paid on my behalf my best course of action, do you think? To be honest, I'm so angry with the moral repugnancy of going down the statutory demand route, knowing I have no money myself...but on the one per cent chance (IMO) that I fight the bankruptcy petition and lose, it will literally bankrupt my family as well as me to pay thousands of pounds more costs...
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