Small claims court

[scooby do]

Just reprensented myself at my local court and won the case. The defendant did not show up but the judge has gone in my favour. Now seeing that the defendant did not show up I dont hold much hope of them paying up (but you never know).

If they dont pay up what happens next? The judge said they can enforce an order but in real terms what is the likely hood of getting a result in this way.

Due to the time it took to bee seen I enquired with the judge about my loss of earnings and he said the max expense is £50 so I found myself having to travel to work and do longer hours to make the time up otherwise the amount I would have lost in earning would have been greatert han the compensation received!!!!

Your thoughts please

 

[Ian J]

The defendant has either 14 or 21 days (I forget which) in which to pay the judgement otherwise it will be registered as a CCJ and will be recorded on his credit file so he will be unable to get credit of any sort for the next few years.

You will be entitled to apply for execution of the judgement by the court bailiffs who are worse than useless but unless you think that there is a realistic chance of getting any money you may well be wasting your time.

If the judgement is in excess of a few thousand pounds it may be worth considering transferring it to the High Court where the sheriffs have bigger teeth and aren't afraid to use them.

 

[scooby do]

Looks like could be a waste of time. Isn't the system great then, CCJ against the company is not going to harm the owner one bit. Bit of a joke really, so I am now £30 out of pocket for the court fee, sitting with damaged goods and almost took a day of work.

Lets hope they pay up then.

 

[Miyazaki]

Bloody joke isn't it mate. I recommend some battery acid applied to the roof of his car during the dead of night!

 

[Steve N]

Looks like could be a waste of time. Isn't the system great then, CCJ against the company is not going to harm the owner one bit. Bit of a joke really, so I am now £30 out of pocket for the court fee, sitting with damaged goods and almost took a day of work.

Lets hope they pay up then.

Don't give up - my sister had a bodged kitchen fitted by a fly by night company in Manchester which was eventually exposed on one of those watchdog programmes. They (my sister + hubby) went to the small claims court. Like in your case, the defendant never turned up and she was awarded damages. They were very doubtful that they would get there money but the bailiffs got involved and in the end the company paid up in full.
.

 

[scooby do]

Not sure if baliffs will be interested costs awarded is £240 including the measley £50 allowed for taking a day of work!!! If I knew that it was going to be this grim then I dont think I would have bothered with it. I done it to try and teach the company a lesson. Fed up with bad service in this country. People think they can get away with treating consumers poorly. It is starting to appear that they can. What good is a CCJ against an intermidatery courier company (middle man). Can something not be issued against the company director?

 

[Jenn]

I thought that if the company cannot pay what you were awarded then they would go bankrupt and that would affect the directors.
But if they pay then you can't punish them "more".

 

[Ian J]

What good is a CCJ against an intermidatery courier company (middle man). Can something not be issued against the company director?

A CCJ will affect the company's ability to get credit which may include more bikes or vans when they need them. Additionally the lists of CCJ's are read by many other people including banks and factoring companies and this will flag up problems that they may not want other companies to know about.

The court will send them a notification that judgement has been entered against them and if they have any sense they will pay it. If that fails it may be worth spending a little more to get the bailiffs to go in and see what they can recover in the form of goods.

 

[scooby do]

Trouble is they dont actually have any real assests like vans or bikes. They just sit in the middle and arrange through Amtrak etc. Still like you say they may just pay up but they are probably to arrogant.

 

[mh123]

For everyone's info, were you aware that you can now commence small claims proceedings online?

https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/csmco2/index.jsp

My Mrs first used this to reclaim the cost of a dodgy mobile phone after the company we bought it from refused to replace it. Since then I, and a couple of mates, have used the service a further 4 or 5 times. The process is identical to the paper-based method; indeed if the claim is disputed then it is referred to a physical court for a traditional hearing etc.. And the penalties are the same - CCJ.

 

[scooby do]

Yeah used moneyclaim which then followed through to normal court due to the arrogant nature of the company contesting the fact that they damaged my goods.

 

[Jenn]

Well if they lost they will have to pay. I don't think anyone in their right mind is arrogant enough to go against the court judgement.

 

[scooby do]

Well surprise surprise, they actually payed up!!!!!!!! A cheque was sent through to me 3 days late with no covering letter or coverslip for the full amount. So good news. Only lesson learnt is watch out in small claims court if you have to take time off work as apparently you can only claim up to £50 expenses!!!!!!

 

[Steve N]

Well surprise surprise, they actually payed up!!!!!!!! A cheque was sent through to me 3 days late with no covering letter or coverslip for the full amount. So good news. Only lesson learnt is watch out in small claims court if you have to take time off work as apparently you can only claim up to £50 expenses!!!!!!

 

[shahedz]

good on ya mate!

 

[neilneil]

Out of interest, if they have now paid up, is the ccj now erased?
If it is then it's a very poor system we have. Considering it probably costs about £100 for every correspondance sent by a company in staff time etc, they are financially better off by just ignoring all claims and then only paying up the 1 in 100 that actually take it any further.



-Neil

 

[Ian J]

The judgement will not be registered if the defendant paid up within either 14 or 21 days of the judgement but I don't think that anyone is better off by ignoring claims of this size as the £240 that they had to pay will have included £30 court fees plus £50 for the plaintiff's expenses which has added 50% to the original debt.

 

[the_sanguine]

I think you are entitled to interest if their payment was late