# Circuit Court Civil Bill Recieved



## stevieg (29 Oct 2009)

Hi All,

I'm looking for some advice as I recieved a Circuit Court Civil Bill in the post today. Last year i ran a business as a sole trader and had under 7500 worth of printing done overseas in an eastern european country. It was around October/November last year when I was due to pay it and was unable as pretty much everyone (or quite a few) advertisers within the magazine either went out of business or were unable to pay.

In November they advised me they had credit insurance taken on me and were passing it on to their credit insurers. About a week before this, they had mistakenly sent me a statement saying I only owed €400, which i still have somewhere.

Since then, i havent been contacted by anyone. No solicitors, nothing. Then today, I recieve a Circuit Court Civil Bill to my home address here in Ireland. 

I went out of business in February of this year, due to nobody paying me for work done, a vicious circle unfortunately. I was forced to move out of the offices where we were and where the magazines were delivered to. I know the owner of the offices and he still allowed me to collect any mail that arrived after leaving, which I have done since. The whole time i recieved nothing from printer or their legal team.

I did send an email at the start of December to the printers saying I was committed to paying the debt, so they have that as evidence. At the moment, I am massivly in debt and have no way of paying this. 

Can anybody advise me on the next step?

Should i contact the plaintiffs solicitors?
I have 10days to lodge with the circuit court, should i do this?


Thanks in Advance!

Steve


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## MOB (29 Oct 2009)

It's a bit late for you, but for anybody else who has 'under 7,500' of a bill unpaid, it is worth considering bringing it down to under €6,350 by making some small payment on account ( if you can) so that subsequent proceedings will be in the District Court ( where legal costs awarded against you are somewhat lower).   

I suggest you Google 'Debt Collection' or 'Debt Recovery' and you will find lots of law firms explaining the process very fully from a creditor's perspective.   Basically, if you owe the money, there is going to be a judgment taken out against you and the next phase is how to deal with the enforcement proceedings ( Google 'instalment orders')

In each case, be sure to google pages from Ireland only, or you will get a wealth of irrelevant material.


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## stevieg (29 Oct 2009)

Hi

Thanks for your reply. I've actually been looking over the bill and the actual quote was for £5,500 sterling. This was without vat as it was overseas.

Then, 2-3 months after invoice they came back saying they were having problems with the vat number and were putting back on the vat. They then issued a credit note for the £5500 and invoiced me for the £5500 plus vat.

But that is my vat number and it should only be £5500, which in todays terms is €6120. So are they even calling me to the right court?


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## bond-007 (1 Nov 2009)

That would be your defence to the civil bill, i.e. the amount claimed is wrong. If you can prove the VAT number was valid at the material time (a letter from Revenue would do) the amount claimed is wrong and therefore they have you before the wrong court. You could go all out and make them prove the amount owed. 

You need to file an appearance within 10 days and a defence within a further 14 days of that or you will loose by default.


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## onq (2 Nov 2009)

Is there some reason you didn't sue your debtors?

I know this is well after the fact, but I had to ask.

ONQ.


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## mf1 (2 Nov 2009)

bond-007 said:


> That would be your defence to the civil bill, i.e. the amount claimed is wrong. If you can prove the VAT number was valid at the material time (a letter from Revenue would do) the amount claimed is wrong and therefore they have you before the wrong court. You could go all out and make them prove the amount owed.
> 
> You need to file an appearance within 10 days and a defence within a further 14 days of that or you will loose by default.



Not a defence. A defence is : " I do not owe this money". An excuse is : "I don't have this money". 

Wrong court matters not a jot. It just means that if they are successful in their claim and if the judgment is for an amount less than Circuit Court level, that they should only get District Court costs. 

Its hard to know what to advise a client: should they try and contact the creditor to dispute the diffference but then if they cannot agree on it, will they end up defending and building up costs on the undisputed sum. And at least some of this is entirely undisputed. Or does it not make more sense to consent to a judgment on a lesser amount and try and reach a repayment schedule. 

mf


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## stevieg (2 Nov 2009)

Thanks for your replies guys. No, i'm going to try and avoid a judgement at all costs. Is it not the case that a judgement would ruin my credit history?

I'm thinking of trying to settle, perhaps offering half the money within 45 days and then just selling my soul to try and get the money together? I'm not sure if i could, but i could try?


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