A CCJ, also known as a default judgment can be made against you where you have not filed  a Defence or Acknowledgement of Service form to a claim issued by a creditor within the  time specified by the court. As a result, you may not be aware of this issue until it is too late. This usually becomes evident when a CCJ appears on your credit file or the CCJ could potentially impact your employment prospects. However, you may have a good reason to go back to court and apply to have the CCJ set aside for such reasons, as I have set out below

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In this guide you will learn:

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• Compelling reasons for disputing a default judgment

• When a court exercises it's own discretion to set aside a default judgment

• Reasonable grounds for why a default judgment should be set aside.

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Common reasons for disputing a default judgment include:

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1. You did not receive the claim form, therefore you had no opportunity to respond and were unable to defend the claim in a timely manner. That can happen if the claim form was sent to the wrong address

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2. You have a real prospect of successfully defending the claim or there is some other good reason for why the default judgment should be set aside

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3. Your address has changed, and a redirection service was in place or you were away or out of the country, unable to defend the claim

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4. The judgment has been entered incorrectly by the claimant even though you do not have a good prospect of successfully defending the claim

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Reasons for when the court can use its discretion to set aside a default judgment

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5. When the court believes that you have provided a compelling defence, and you have a real prospect of success

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6. The court decides that a trial is not necessary based on the written evidence provided in your application

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Valid grounds to support setting aside a default judgment

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7. You filed an acknowledgement of service within the court time limit

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8. You applied for a summary judgment before the default judgment was entered

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9. Before the default judgment was entered you filed an admission of liability to pay all the sums claimed by the claimant

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10 You paid the full amount of the sum claimed before the claimant entered the default judgment

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The key to most matters when it comes to making an application to settle a default judgment CCJ is to provide written evidence and to act promptly as soon as you become aware of it’s existence. The following case study is a recent application that we helped a client to set aside a default judgment which highlights some of the common issues that arise.

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Now it's your turn.

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I’d like to hear from you. Which tip from today’s  reason can you take away to challenge the removal of a CCJ?

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Are you going to listen to the Claimant’s interest and motivations?

Or give the Claimant a chance to present an offer before entering into negotiations?

Either way, let me know by leaving a quick comment below

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