Judgment had been obtained against the Defendant and the Defendant had paid the Judgment debt in full to the High Court Enforcement Officer (“HCEO”). The Defendant had subsequently instructed a Solicitor to try to obtain repayment of the monies.
The Defendant’s Solicitor tried to make the argument that the Defendant was not the correct debtor because it was a dormant company and should not have been pursued for the money. We checked Companies House records which showed that the Defendant had recently filed dormant accounts. However, the HCEO had discovered that the Defendant had at least one vehicle in its possession that was subject to a finance repayment deal.
Our team used their advocacy expertise to put this to the Defendant’s Solicitor and suggested that the Defendant should be declaring all financial transactions rather than filing dormant accounts. We also pointed out that the Defendant had not acted promptly in seeking to set aside the Judgment which had been entered 12 months previously. The Defendant’s Solicitor advised that they were likely to make the application to set aside immediately.
We advised the Client that they should sit tight because we thought it unlikely that the Defendant would actually make an application to set aside the Judgment. The Defendant’s Solicitor made further threats to make the application but we felt that the Defendant’s Solicitor was bluffing and once again advised the Client to sit tight.
The Client took our advice which turned out to be correct as no application was made by the Defendant and therefore the Client was able to make full recovery of the debt plus full costs and interest.
