 |
County Court Judgements
(CCJ's) Explained
CCJs are made locally
The jurisdiction of the County Courts is limited
to the geographical area which they cover, and an
action must normally be brought in the court for
the district in which the defendant resides or carries
on business, or in the court for the district in
which the cause of action arose.
Larger
judgements are made by the High Court
There is provision for any action to be transferred
from the County Court to the High Court where the
sum involved is over a certain amount and the defendant
objects to the case being tried in the County Court
- provided that the County Court judge certifies
that in his opinion some important question of law
or fact is likely to arise and the defendant gives
security for the amount claimed and the costs of
the trial in the High Court.
Smaller ccjs are moved to the County Court
If an action is brought in the High Court for a
sum of not more than a certain fixed sum check the
current amount with your local court) , the defendant
may apply to have the case transferred to the County
Court, and it will be transferred if the judge or
master who hears the case thinks fit.
If in an action brought in the High Court the amount
recovered is less than a certain amount the plaintiff
is not entitled to costs. If he recovers less than
a certain fixed sum he will be awarded costs only
on the County Court scale unless it appears to the
judge or master that there were reasonable grounds
to suppose that he would have recovered more than
he could have claimed in the County Court, or if
they are satisfied that there were reasonable grounds
for bringing the case in the High Court, or if the
defendant objected to the case being transferred
to the County Court.
Enforcing CCJ's
Another important function of the County Court
is the enforcement of judgments, whether County
Court or High Court judgments, where a party against
whom an award had been made fails to comply with
the ccj order of the court. Where an award of
money has been made, but it has not been paid,
a number of options are open to the County Court.
Attachment of earnings. An order for attachment
of earnings is an instruction to the employer
of the debtor, ordering him to make periodical
deductions from the earnings of the debtor, and
to pay them to the collecting officer of the court.
An order of this sort is often made in respect
of arrears of maintenance.
Execution.
A CCJ creditor may seek a warrant of execution
against the personal property of the debtor. If
such a warrant is granted, it is executed by a
bailiff who is entitled to seize as much of the
debtor’s personal property as is necessary
to satisfy the debt. The debtor must, however,
be left with clothes, bedding, and the tools of
his trade to the value of £50.
Garnishee proceedings. The ccj
creditor may institute garnishee proceedings.
Garnishee proceedings involve three parties: the
judgment creditor (A), the judgment debtor (B),
and a third party (C), very often a bank with
whom B has an account in credit, who owes money
to B. Under garnishee proceedings the court orders
C to pay direct to A so much of the amount it
owes to B as will satisfy the CCJ debt, or the
whole of the amount it owes if this is less than
the county court judgment debt.
Charging order. The county court
judgment creditor may obtain from the court a
charging order. This enables the creditor, if
the debt remains unpaid, to sell the property
subject to the charge in order to recover the
debt.
Appointment of a receiver. The court may, at the
request of the judgment creditor, appoint a receiver
to whom income which would normally go to the
judgment debtor will be paid, and the receiver
will pay it to the judgment creditor until the
debt is repaid.
Bankruptcy proceedings. The judgment
creditor may serve upon the judgment debtor a
notice to pay the amount due within seven days,
and if the debtor does not pay within that time,
the creditor may institute bankruptcy proceedings.
Such proceedings should not be instituted lightly,
however, because unless the debtor is able to
pay in full, the creditor will receive only a
fraction of the amount due to him, and then will
have no further recourse against a debtor.
County Court Judgment Summons.
A ccj summons involves an investigation by the
court into a judgment debtor’s means, and
generally involves an order by the court to the
debtor to pay the debt by instalments. Until 1970,
the advantage of a judgment summons from the point
of view of a judgment creditor was that the judgment
debtor could be imprisoned if he failed to comply
with it. In general, this is not now the case,
so that attachment of earnings is sought much
more frequently than judgment summons.
Sometimes a judgment involves something other
than an award of money, and the court’s
powers of enforcement are different from those
mentioned:
-where a successful plaintiff is entitled to receive
or recover possession of land, a warrant of possession
may be executed by a bailiff.
-where there is a judgment for possession of specific
goods, a warrant of delivery may be executed by
a bailiff.
In these cases the bailiff is entitled to seize
the land or goods and hand over possession to
the plaintiff.
When the court has awarded an injunction against
a defendant, failure to comply with its terms
constitutes contempt of court. In these circumstances
the court may punish the defendant by making a
committal order. The effect of this is that if
the defendant continues to refuse to comply with
the injunction he may be imprisoned.
Case studies
CASE STUDY A:
An Existing CCJ
| Background |
Action
Taken |
| Brian
paid £60 a month on an existing CCJ for
a water debt. He also had the following
priority debts:
Mortgage
..£3,750
Gas
£ 294
Council Tax
..£ 570
His amount available to
pay creditors was £94. So if he continued
paying the existing CCJ, he would have
only £34 for his other priority creditors |
Brian
applied to the County Court for a reduced
payment on the basis that the £60 payjment
was large in relation to the amount he
had available for other priority creditors
The court agreed,
reducing his CCJ payment to £5 a month
and leaving him £89 a month to pay his
other creditors |
CASE STUDY B:
Pro-rata Payments
| Background |
|
| After
negotiating priority payments, Claire
had £27 available to pay the following
non-priority debts:
Credit Card
.£2,000
Personal Loan
£3,000
Catalogue
...£ 400
TOTAL OWED
...£5,400
Claire calculated her pro-rata
offers as follows:
Credit Card: £2,000
x £27 / £5,400 = £10
Personal Loan: £3,000
x £27 / £5,400 = £15
Catalogue: £
400 x £27 / £5,400 = £ 2
TOTAL OFFERS = £27 |
The
first two offers were accepted,
but the catalogue collector put Claire
under pressure to pay more. Claire explained
that she could not pay more because it
would mean reducing her payments to priority
creditors and she paid the £2 anyway. |
CASE STUDY C:
Mortgage arrears (1)
| Background |
| John
and Sheila owed:
Mortgage………………£550
Gas…………………….£147
Credit Card……………£950
They had £108 to pay
creditors |
| The Negotiations
|
| John
and Sheila first offered to repay the mortgage
arrears over 12 months at £46 per
month. When this offer was accepted, they
had (£108 - £46 =) £62
available to pay other priority creditors.
They next offered to repay their gas arrears
over three months at £50 per month.
This offer was also accepted because it
meant the arrears would be repaid before
the next quarterly bill was due.
Finally, the couple offered their remaining
available funds of (£62 - £50
=) £12 a month to their credit card
company as a token payment. This was rejected
but the couple wrote to say they intended
paying the £12 anyway since it was
all they could afford until the gas arrears
were repaid.
The Outcome
John and Sheila increased
their payments to the credit card company
as soon as they had cleared their gas arrears
and again when their mortgage arrears were
repaid. |
CASE STUDY D:
Mortgage Arrears (2)
| Background |
Peter
owed:
Mortgage……………...£1,260
Electricity………………£
112
Personal Loan………..£2,460
He had £57 available
to pay creditors. |
| The Negotiations
|
| Peter
offered to repay his mortgage arrears over
3 years at £35 a month. This would
have left him with some funds to clear his
electricity debt. But the mortgage lender
rejected Peter’s offer and demanded
repayment within 6 months. Peter could not
persuade them to be more flexible.
The Outcome
Peter received court papers
when the lender applied for a Possession
Order. He responded to the court with his
original offer to repay the arrears at £35
a month.
A hearing was arranged and
Peter attended. The Judge accepted his offer
and made a suspended Possession Order. So
the mortgage lender cannot repossess the
house as long as Peter pays £35 a
month on top of his normal full monthly
repayment |
| WHAT
IF Peter had not attended court?
A full Possession Order may
have been made. Peter would then have had
to use court form N244 to request that the
Order be suspended |
Click
Here for Web Detective |
