help needed on legal case (chasing unpaid debts)

[stringman]

Hi Guys,

I wonder if I may impose upon your good nature and ask some advice?

I was owed a sum of money by a sole trader and took him to court.

he had two addresses 1 a business address - in reality a PO box and the other his home address.

I started the court case through the online service (Northampton) but when he wanted to contest the case it was transferred to his local county court.

All documents were sent to the business address.

After his inital letter stating he was going to contest the case there was no more correspondance and as such the case was awarded in my favour.this all took place over March - May 07

after a period of time I was also awarded costs.

Obviously I had received no payments! so on advice from this forum I did the following:
on 12/12/07 I applied for a 3rd party debt order against his business bank account. the bank replied and told me the amount I could "have"

I then applied for a warrant to send the Baliff around.
on the warrant application I put both the "business" and home address.

It was first rejected as the "business" address was a PO box.
it was then reissued at the home address.

the debtor has now responded requesting a suspension of warrant and any judgements also be suspended because:

he sent a fax(29th April 07) to northampton court saying that all correspondance be sent to his home address ( he says he has a fax receipt but anyone can fabricate those) and as he had no more communications he assumed that the case had been dropped and as such had no chance to defend himself.

he also says that the company ceased trading on 31/3/07.But was still receiving mail from the court 16/4/08.

It now looks Like I have to go to court and fight the whole thing from scratch!!

so (at long last) my questions are this.

Is it sufficient to send a fax like he did?

Does anyone know what happens to the post when a PO box closes is it returned to sender?

If your bank account, be it personal or business, would your bank not have to inform you of it? ie why does he only respond now and not when i froze his bank account?

would the court not frown on a company closing down mid court correspondence, baring in mind he is a sole trader so legally it makes no difference.

Any other advice anyone can offer me

thank you so much in advance

[TIL]

PO boxes are easily traced.

With all correspondence of this matter is useful to have a Process Server serve the documents upon him. A process server will then write a statement to confirm service, or if required they can swear an affidavit. All too often a debtor will deny they have had notice or received the appropriate paperwork. Having a PS deliver it in person leaves them without this defence.

All costs associated with the process server can be added to the original debt. We provide this service to solicitors nationwide who draw up Statutory Demands, Claims and Bankruptcy Petitions to debtors all the time.

As is often the case in these scenarios you can end up throwing good money after bad. Even with a judgement won in your favour there is no guarantee you will get recompence.

Contact me privately if you require any further assistance.

[PI Guy]

he is a sole trader and his business and him as classed as one entity. He is responsable for his debts.

[maxine]

Was the judgement awarded at his court (Northampton)? If so, I can understand him applying for suspension of the warrant due to the courts not using the correct address upon his request but not to have the judgement set aside.

[Ashley]

Your situation is not rare, since you issued a warrant I can easily guess that the total value is under £5k so you are in the Mickey Mouse court (aka as small claims).


Just to clear up you cannot recover the fees for a process server in the small claims court. And fax is a very acceptable form of service.


There is still things you can do to stay in control.


1 Has he made an application to court to have the warrant suspended and have the judgement set aside?


Or


2 has he requested from you to agree to the warrant being suspended and have the judgement set aside?


(BTW 2 would be the clever thing to do, and would indicate that he understands how the courts work IMO)

[TIL]

Just to clear up you cannot recover the fees for a process server in the small claims court. And fax is a very acceptable form of service.

Process Server fees are often claimed as additional legal costs. We serve papers on a regular basis with additional legal and process server fees. (In fact I have two sets for service this week with the Process Servers Fees added)

Costs, including court fees and legal fees are usually awarded.

You can actually carry out the serving of the document on the defendant by means of fax. Obviously, personal service is the No. 1 means, however, fax and other methods can be used. If however the defendant denies receiving the fax, you are back to square one.

The section of the CPR are as below:

(e) by fax or other means of electronic communication in accordance with the relevant practice direction.

[stringman]

Thanks guys,

Well I have just come back from the hearing re the case

he asked for the warrant of execution be suspended and any judgements be set aside pending a hearing.

however he did not bother turning up to court so his request was struck aside and I was awarded further costs.

so the court baliffs are now going to go back.

he seems devious enough to try to another trick.

any idea what to do next?
thanks

[stringman]

Well the latest episode update!

after various conversations with the court Bailiff i have found out the following:

He has applied for another application of suspension under the grounds that he sent a letter to the court saying he could not make the hearing date (25/2) of course the court does not have this on file!

strangly he sent the second application registered post but not the letter stating he could not make the hearing!

he has also stated that he now only didputes some of the claim not all of it- which is backtracking from the original defence.

So I have been told EVERYTHING has to be put on hold until the judge decides what to do

meanwhile I have been in contact with a company that will chase up the debt on my behalf.

so whilst I wait(again) I have a few questions I would like to ask:

IS there a guide how many times he can apply for a suspension befor the judges will allow no more?

Can I appoint this external company as a bailiff and still use the court bailiff?

if not can I just appoint the external company as debt collector and keep the court bailiff on the case?

If not are the court bailiffs oblidged to give the external company any info such as his mobile which they have.

I was advised to put a charge on his property- its in his name along with his wife, can i force them to sell it to recover my debt?

what else can i do?

finally anyone any good with baseball bats- only joking well kind of


thanks very much in advance

[Jezclayton]

I am appalled at how courts allow individuals to manipulate the system in such a way. If someone says they sent a fax, the court should, at the very least, request a copy along with the relevant evidence of sending (easily done by supplying a copy of the phone bill). Failure to supply a satisfactory response should result in judgement being awarded against the offending party.

I have had judgement awarded in may favour on a number of occasions but have rarely been paid. The last time bailiffs refused to enter the property because of loose dogs. Can't really blame them but so much for justice!

Best of luck