Judgement obtained but company refusing to pay!

L

LouthLass

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I hope that this makes sense and that someone will be able to point me in the right direction as to what options are open to me.

I recently obtained a district court order against a Ltd company for faulty furniture and which was sent to the Sheriff for collection. When the Sheriff's messenger approached the company, they took it back to court to apply for extension of time which was refused by the Judge (original order was granted in May 08, they applied for extension Sept 08). The Sheriff then went back out to the company and was flatly told that they would not pay. Now, this is where it gets complicated! The Sheriff then undertook to enforce a seizure but in the relevant checks before any seizure could take place, it was discovered the Ltd company is not actually registered with CRO (despite advertising as a Ltd company). The VAT number was checked also and it was discovered to be the IE VAT number of another furniture store in Northern Ireland. If I am reading this right, then it would appear that I obtained a court order against a company that has no legal entity?

To further complicate the matter, the premises that the company operated out of is now closed although I have been told that they still open on a Sunday (will be checking this out myself this Sunday) and of course, the Sheriff does not undertake seizures at weekends.

Would anyone in this forum have any experience of a similar matter like this and be able to give me some advice on what I should do next??

All input welcome.

Regards
LL

Apologies - just realised that my previous post of 13/09/08 is actually still on the forum - I was advised it was deleted so I assumed it was no longer available for viewing/replies in case anyone thinks I was trying to 'bump' up my query!
 
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"If I am reading this right, then it would appear that I obtained a court order against a company that has no legal entity?"

This is unfortunately an all too common experience.

You did business with someone. Something went wrong. You sued the entity that you thought you were doing business with and have obtained a judgment against them. However the entity you got the judgment against is not the correct legal entity. I'm afraid you should have checked this out before ever issuing proceedings.

I'm not sure you have any comeback now - I don't think you can just change the name on the proceedings. I'm not even sure if you can commence proceedings again.

My advice is that you have been unfortunate in your business dealings but you should write the debt off to experience.

mf
 
It sounds to me like the Northern Irish company simply operates a store in the Republic in addition to their NI business. You could try contacting the Northern Irish address to see what happens (although I wouldn't be hopefull).

It sounds like you have a judgment in the Republic against a NI company which is allowed as you transacted the business in the South.

Did you undertake all the court work yourself or engage a solicitor to do it for you? If you used a solicitor you should ask their advice on your further options.

If the debtor is not going to pay, which is what this sounds like, you may be better off cutting your losses and chalking this up to experience. The other option perhaps is to see if you can get new furniture.
 
Thanks for the replies, not the answer I was hoping for but we live and learn. As the invoice that I was issued with stated the name followed by Ltd in my naviety I assumed it was registered with the CRO in the South. Is there a body that I can report this to or is it the CRO themselves? It doesn't seem right that it should advertise as a Ltd but is not actually registered here.

Also, I believed that a trader/company could register for IE VAT with an address outside Ireland only if they had no physical premises here? Common sense would dictate they should register the physical premises as the PPOB so Revenue could actually visit and inspect if necessary? Is this the case?

Many thanks.
 
I have sued a few companies recently and spent considerable time trying to identify/confirm the legal entity I was suing.

Did you use a solicitor. If so, I am surprised that your solicitor did not check this before entering into expensive legal action.
 
Yes, I did use a solicitor and since the Sheriff informed me of their findings, its been a little difficult to get hold of him to find out why this has happened but I shall keep trying. If it is a case of negligence on behalf of the solicitor should I request my fees are returned? Would I have grounds?
 
You should at least write to your solicitor asking for them to explain why they did not check the legal status of the entity they were suing. They might have a good explanation. If the explanation is not satisfactory, then you should ask for your money back.

brendan
 
Thanks Brendan,

Dropped off the letter this morning at his office (he was unavailable at the time!) so will give him a week to get back to me.

Regards

LL
 
Your only hope is to sue the company in NI and hopefully obtain a judgement in the NI courts and use their enforcement procedures.
 
Would that be possible? The invoice states the Southern address and name and the transaction took place in the Republic so would a NI court entertain it? If it is possible, would it be better to use a NI solicitor?
 
What is at the southern address? Offices? Stock?

Yes you would be best to talk to a NI solicitor.
 
Southern addresss is just a unit in an industrial estate, show room type. However it is now closed but I have been informed it's open Sundays but I shall be checking it out this Sunday to see if it is open.
 
If it is still open and the contents is owned by the same company the sheriff should be able to seize contents to the value of the judgement. I think the problem is where the sheriff has called when the place is closed up. Now if you can confirm it is open on a Sunday you could arrange to have the sheriff call on a Sunday and seize their stock.
 
Thanks Bond-007 for the advice but it was the Sheriff who actually advised me that they were unable to take any action as the court order was obtained against a Ltd company that didnt actually exist - hence the headache I have had ever since! So even if the store is open with stock, the Sheriff can't seize any goods - I know that chances are I have hit a brick wall and will probably not get any satisfaction so I shouldn't even go down on Sunday but I have to know if it is open, just to annoy myself even further:mad: if that makes sense!
 
Go in and help yourself to whatever you can on Sunday.

After all, from what I understand, you are only taking things from a non existent entity and that can't be a crime, can it?. A victimless crime!

Murt
 
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