Hi There

a couple of years ago I had a CCJ granted against me. I didnt receive the summons as it was sent to an address that i wasnt living at. I've applied to have it set aside, but now i've been asked to attend a 10 minute court appearance - anyone got any ideas as to why this is necessary? I was expecting just a formal letter through giving the result of the appeal....cheers

-- VI Sage (visage@another.com), November 03, 2003

Answers

Aye, and I have further good news for you - if you do not attend the hearing, the judge will automatically strike the application out and MAY award further costs on top of the judgment.

In order to get the judgment set aside, as well as attending the hearing, you have to show that you did not receive the summons AND that you have a reasonable defence to the claim set down in the summons.

Fail on any of these points and the application will be refused or as I said before, struck out.

-- David J. Button (davidjohnbutton@supanet.com), November 04, 2003.

What will happen if you dont turn up this time is you will be ordered to appear again, be ordered to pay court costs on the missed hearing and it will continue until you do turn up. The court dont just go away....Dont ignore it, it will cost you more money and the order will not be set aside until you give you side of the story....

-- neil (neilawuk@yahoo.co.uk), November 07, 2003.

It is EXTREMELY unlikely that you would be ordered to attend an adjourned hearing if you failed to turn up at the first listed date - the exception being if you were unable to attend because of illness, bereavement or you did not get the notice of hearing.

The Judge will automatically strike out the application if you don't appear and have not phoned or written in with an acceptable excuse. You would then have to re-apply.

-- David J. Button (davidjohnbutton@supanet.com), November 08, 2003.