civil summons

5 years ago i leased a pub with my partner,it didnt work out and we ended up in huge debt,when we were leaving we gave any stock we had left back to the drinks supplier,but we still owed them money.yesterday my husband was handed a civil summons claiming we still ouw them 8000.what should we do next,i know if we ignore it they automatically win the stated amount,but we dont have a defence as we do owe it but we dont have any money and no credit rating to borrow the money either.
is it pointless gonig to court,what happens then with a judgement when we dont owe or have anything?
any advice would be great.

If you are summonsed to court you should at least go and explain yourself. The court can only rule against you if you don't make an appearance. The court could make a token repayment order (token amount per month to be repaid).

Was it a limited company? Did you sign personal guarantees to the supplier or something? Was the firm dissolved or struck off?

it was all very informal i signed the lease,when we went to the cash and carry for stock my husband just signed for the stock and that was it,so it stayed in his name,they didnt even ask us for id or any gaurantee

Was it a limited company?

no it wasnt a company at all,the bank wouldnt give a loan if i made it a company it was just me personally on the lease

Well, you have admitted you owe the money and have no limited liability to hide behind so you'd better go to court and plead your case in front of the judge. A solicitor would be a very good idea.

I agree with murphaph, you don't have limited liability which means you are personally liable for this debt. Don't avoid going to Court - go to Court on the day, either yourself or with a solicitor, and explain the situation to the judge. Alternatively you could try to arrange a repayment plan with the drinks supplier whereby you would repay x amount every month until the debt is paid.

Whatever you do go to court with facts and figures of your income and outgoings You could try and come to and arrangment with the supplier for weekly payments in order to avoid going to court.

Well meaning advice offered so far, but not very helpful as it is inaccurate in many respects, I will come back to that in a moment though. I would like to clarify something, a Civil Summons is used in District Court proceedings i.e. for amounts under €6348 but you said that the amount the plaintiff is claiming is €8000 which would mean that it is Circuit Court proceedings, which would also mean you received a Civil Bill instead of a Civil Summons. I'm not being pedantic for the sake of it here, because there are important differences in the applicable procedures in whichever is the correct Court, and it is therefore important to know what you are dealing with.

1. If you do not defend the matter it will not appear in any court list and judgment will be obtained against you by the plaintiff lodging the
necessary papers in the relevant court office. If you wish to defend you will need to do the following: If it is a Civil Summons you will see that there is two Notices of Intention to Defend, one of which is to be filed in the court office and the other one served on the plaintiff/solicitor for the plaintiff, only when this is done will the matter will tappear on the court list for the specified date, on that date the judge will then usually set a hearing date. If Circuit Court the procedure is more complicated, very basically an appearance must be entered, then defendant raises any particulars, then enter a full defence and then any discovery applications, etc. and then Notice of Trial will be served and the hearing will take place.

2. If you defend the matter just to explain yourself (particularly if Circuit Court) you will be massively increasing the plaintiff's legal costs which you will ultimately be liable to pay. Also if Circuit Court defending an action is very procedural and would probably require a solicitor and probably a barrister. If however, it is District the costs won't be as high but you will be increasing them nonetheless if you choose to defend the action.

Op you should probably go see your solicitor who will be in a better position to advise you regarding your options, or perhaps even MABS.

Unless you are very familiar with court procedures, see a solicitor now.

Most creditors and their solicitors prefer to come to an arrangement that produces some cash rather than have to go the full way getting judgement and then trying to enforce it.