In civil litigation if a Defendant fails to respond to a claim in time the Claimant can apply for what is known as a default judgment. A default judgment means that the Defendant has failed to file a Defence to the Claim and the court has entered judgment (i.e. a CCJ).
Defendants sometimes have genuine reasons for not replying to the Claim and they include the following:
1. The Defendant was not in the country when the claim was issued and therefore did not have opportunity to respond in time.
2. The Defendant did not receive the papers from the court explaining that a claim had been issued. A common reason cited being ‘problems with the post’.
3. The Defendant’s address as stated on the claim form was not correct which meant the Defendant was not aware a claim had been issued.
A recently cited and more unusual reason why Defendants do not reply to a claim when it is issued includes not believing that the court documents were genuine.
If you find that a CCJ has been issued against you it is important that you act quickly. There is a formal legal process to follow to set aside a CCJ and the mechanism for doing this is set out in the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) at Part 13. CPR 13.3 states that a court “may set aside or vary a judgment…if….the defendant has a real prospect of successfully defending the claim….or…it appears to the court that there is some other good reason…..why…the judgment should be set aside or varied”.
At Summerfield Browne we have experience in dealing with these applications that often lead to clients going on to successfully defend claims that have been issued against them. Such applications typically require a witness statement setting out the reasons why the Defence was not provided and a short hearing before a Judge to deal with the application.
We find that clients often prefer to have a solicitor review the papers and draft the application. Going to court can be a daunting experience and as well as preparing the application Summerfield Browne can arrange for you to be legal represented at the hearing. Representation at the hearing can often be arranged on a fixed fee which can help minimise legal costs.
Summerfield Browne Solicitors have offices in London, Birmingham, Oxford, Cambridge, Leicester and Northampton.
