CCJ Entered Against You Without Your Knowledge?

Had a CCJ Entered Against You Without Knowledge of the Claim?

It has been reported that a County Court Judgment (CCJ) has been entered against the Prime Minister at 10 Downing Street.

If you find that a CCJ has been entered against you, without you knowing about the claim, what can you do?

The most likely thing is that you would need to apply to the court to “set aside” the judgment. Setting aside a judgment does not make a claim go away it just means that you can defend the claim. If it has been set aside the CCJ should be removed from your credit record.

The court must set aside a CCJ if there were procedural irregularities but most of the applications I have made are under the rule that the court may set aside the judgment if you:

• have a “real prospect” of successfully defending the claim; or,
• there is “some other good reason”; and,
• in both cases you must have made the application “promptly”.

You need to prove the “real prospect” of defending the claim by showing the judge what your defence will be. You don’t need to prove that you definitely will successfully defend just that you have a good chance of doing so – this will persuade the court that you should have that opportunity.

Acting “promptly” is very important – the judge will normally think that more than about 28 days after you became aware of the CCJ is too long.

I see that a Downing Street spokesperson has said they will be making an application to the court but as the judgment was entered in October they will have to prove how and when the Prime Minister became aware of the judgment and prove he has now acted promptly.

Of course it is better if you do not get the CCJ in the first place.

Remember:

• Take any correspondence from the court (which will arrive by post) seriously
• If it has your name on it open it and respond as required

If in doubt take legal advice quickly, you can contact a member of our Dispute Resolution team at [email protected] or alternatively telephone us on Ipswich 01473 213311 or Colchester 01206 584584, or click “Call Me Back” and a member of our team will be happy to contact you.