>>Enforcing a small claims' court judgment

>>Enforcing a small claims' court judgment

This thread was originally posted by Ali




I'm such a fool.

A plumber called out Saturday to move two rads.

He wanted 300 cash up front to go off and buy the gear. I gave it to him and was given a receipt.

He later phoned to say that the shop didn't have all the parts and that he'd see me early Monday morning.

Well, needless to say Monday morning has come and gone. His land-line is diverted to his mobile and his mobile is telling me "cannot connect this call"".

I suspect he's done a runner.

Should I just forget about it and put it down to a life exeperience? Reluctant to get guards involved - if he can steal 300 from - and knows where we live!!! (esp. with pregnant wife at home all day)

He has an ad. in the Golden Pages, who can't provide me with ay details of course. His address is down as "Leeson Street" - fantasic.

Any advice most apprecaited.

XX

Ali - mug! mug! mug!

Re: Plumber missing with money - what to do?

Not much consolation here but people should never advance cash up front for this sort of job, even for "parts". Any reputable/decent tradesperson should generally be able to provide whatever's required for the job up front. If they can't then they could be dodgy (e.g. they may not have a regular supplier willing to provide parts on credit which could be a bad sign). On the other hand, in this case, given that it's relatively early days perhaps there is an innocent explanation for the delay and he will turn up again soon? I would certainly keep trying to contact him in the meantime. Hope this helps.

Been there, done that

We were done last year by a carpenter who requested a €225 deposit on an €800 job, which didn't seem unreasonable at the time. Fortunately, we paid by cheque.

We never heard from the guy again. The guards weren't able to help officially, though a local detective did provide updated addresses. The guy seemed to move house every few months, presumably screwing his landlords the same way he screwed us.

We went to the Small Claims Court and got a judgement against him. Unfortunately, the sherrif has been unable to enforce this judgement as there is never anyone home when the sherrif calls. It is a bit dissapointing that the sherrif only calls during business hours, presumably when most people are out at work.

Any other ideas to help me or Alison would be gratefully accepted.

Don't give up yet......

Alison - as mentioned earlier it is early days. You need to remember you are in Ireland. People (tradesmen in particular!) don't call when they say they will. A rough rule of thumb would suggest that our friendly plumber will arrange on at least 2 more occassions before actually arriving and then you can look forward to "oh this is a much bigger job that I thought......." and many more excuses / problems. Welcome to Ireland 2003!

MAC

Go get him

To Done : If you were motivated enough to get a judgement against him ( well done ! ), why not carry on. The next step is to serve a summons for attendance of debtor on him which requires him to come to court and give details as to his income to explain why he hasn't paid you. If he doesnt turn up you ask the judge to make an installment order against him asking him to pay in one lump sum. If he doesnt pay you serve a committal order on him- which asks him to come to court and give a reason why he should not go to jail for not paying. If he doesnt turn up or turns up but doesnt give sufficient reason, the judge will order a prison sentence. The guards get a warrant and enforce it. It is usually at this stage that people find the motivation to pay and not before.

Of course this is a load of hassle for you time consuming and if both of you are working, you'll need time off to go to court. Asking a solicitor to do it is probably uneconomic, although if the money comes in the end you are entitled to your costs...

Go get em

Thanks Vanilla, that is very useful.

Have you any more detail on how I would go about serving a summons for attendance of debtor on him? Is there a standard form for this? Would a legal stationers have one?

I did find this stuff on the Courts website - [broken link removed] but it doesn't really tell me how to go about it.

Court steps

The forms are standard forms that you should be able to get from the District court office.
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For the first step you will need to fill up a summons for attendance of debtor in duplicate- this comes with a blank statement of means attached for the debtor to fill up when it is served on him and he returns it to the court office who are supposed to give you a copy.

You also fill up a statutory declaration to accompany the summons- it basically says the amount due to you, where and when you got judgement and the debtors current address. This should be signed before a peace commissioner and sent to the court office with the summons in duplicate- you leave the time and date of court blank and the court office fills it in, retains your declaration and gives you back the summons which you send by reg post to the debtor. You fill out a statutory declaration of service and send it to the court office proving the debtor has been served. Again this is to be signed before a peace commissioner ( they should not charge for this).

On the court date in practise the debtor rarely shows up, and you can ask the court to give you an installment order for the entire amount in one lump sum. If the debtor show up you are entitled to cross examine him as to his means and whether he has the money to pay ;you. NB This is not a rehash of the original small claims court and you do not go into why he owes you money - you already have judgement and this is only in relation to getting payment.

I think the court office will help you with all above documents- but pick your time i.e don't go in when they are up the walls etc

When you get the installment order you actually have to get the order from the court office and again serve it on the debtor. The installment is usually due 7 days after service of the order on the debtor.

When it is not paid, you serve a commital summons on the debtor- again you must do a stat declar of service of it and send it to court office etc,

At that hearing you will have to give evidence under oath as to

1. The date of the installment order.

2.Its terms- i.e one lump sum of Eur X

3. Date of service of order.

4. Date first installment due ( usually 7 days after service)
5. Whether any money paid.
6. Amount now due.

Then judge usually gives prison sentence. Warrant will issue, guards arrest the debtor and they have a chance to pay or go to prison.

*sigh* I know its complicated and probably not worth it in strict monetary terms...

Re: Court steps

Vanilla said:

Then judge usually gives prison sentence. Warrant will issue, guards arrest the debtor and they have a chance to pay or go to prison.

Click to expand...

If he is sent to prison, you the creditor must pay the cost of imprisonment. This move is very rarely used as a remedy except in the case of huge debts.

Re: >>Enforcing a small claims' court judgment

No that isnt true at all. In fact if you go down to the district court any civil day you will see a large number of committal applications. It is in fact a very common application. Also the fact that the debtor is committed to prison does NOT satisfy or extinguish the debt due.

Re: >>Enforcing a small claims' court judgment

If the debtor can't pay then there would be no point in commiting him to prison.

Re: >>Enforcing a small claims' court judgment

If the debtor CAN'T pay, then in fact the judge will not commit him or her. However these cases are few and far between. There is usually an amount of money anyone can pay, be it €5 per week.