Bankruptcy and personal injuries compensation.

[katan]

Payments have stopped on agreement which was much less than court order. Does anyone know if personal injuries compensation is cancelled if I am the only creditor to make defendant bankrupt?

It was a deliberate, serious assault.

[rebel11]

Thread moved.

[Johno100]

Payments have stopped on agreement which was much less than court order. Does anyone know if personal injuries compensation is cancelled if I am the only creditor to make defendant bankrupt?

It was a deliberate, serious assault.

 

I'm not clear, you refer to a Court Order and an agreement, did the court make an order for compensation that he / she are not complying with? Or is there some kind of agreement between the parties (brokered by a solicitor?) that this individual is not adhering to?

 

If it is the former then it may be considered a non-provable debt and a court is very unlikely to grant a Bankruptcy Order. It would also serve no purpose because the debt is non-provable you would not be entitled to a dividend. The best advice would be to go back to the court that passed the sentence and see if they are prepared to deal with the individual for his / her failure to comply.

 

If this was some form of none court brokered agreement then of course you could consider bankruptcy. But you need to be mindful of the costs involved and be pretty sure that the individual has assets of value and that you are not one of many creditors. You may just be throwing good money after bad.

 

BTW did you apply to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority for an award?

[katan]

Many thanks to johno100 for useful comments. Yes the court did make an order, judge very supportive of my case as we had to go back so many times and defendant just ignored order. So I had solicitor draw up agreement ( much less than court order) that I was content with,as regular payments gave me some security. It is this agreement that defendant has defaulted on, it clearly states that if she defaults then the whole amount of the court judgement becomes payeable, which includes a hefty amount of penal interest. I had no idea that a court judgement was considered "non proveable" so you may have saved me a wasted effort.As this has been going on for so long, I think it more important to get what I can, rather than ruin my health any further.

We had to take civil action, as the police really fouled up, so I don't know if criminal injuries compensation applies. Would welcome advice.

Many thanks again, katan.

[toddle2u]

It would seem that this is a fine that has been imposed on the individual by the Courts for an assualt on you. If this is the case and the individual is declared bankrupt the Court imposedd fine still stands

[toddle2u]

I had no idea that a court judgement was considered "non proveable"

 

It is proveable. It is a proven debt

[toddle2u]

As this is Court Judgment rather than a fine it will be included within the BR

[katan]

Thanks toddle2u. Why is the legal system so complicated? I'm so glad I found CAG with proper people to help. Seems I have the option of making my assailant bankrupt, but no guarantee of getting anything back. Reading all the comments about bankruptcy being "an easy way out of debt".I would like to hear if it's as unpleasant as this violent, greedy person deserves.

katan.

[Johno100]

It would seem that this is a fine that has been imposed on the individual by the Courts for an assualt on you. If this is the case and the individual is declared bankrupt the Court imposedd fine still stands

 

It is proveable. It is a proven debt

 

As this is Court Judgment rather than a fine it will be included within the BR

 

From The Insolvency Service's Technical Manual:-

 

40.22 Fines

 

Any fine (as defined in the Magistrates Court Act 1980) imposed on a bankrupt for an offence is not provable. This includes parking fines and fines imposed as a result of criminal proceedings.

 

At section 150 of the Magistrates Court Act 1980 a fine is defined as including any pecuniary penalty or pecuniary forfeiture or pecuniary compensation payable under a conviction. In effect, this means that a fine is usually the result of a criminal conviction.

[toddle2u]

Bankruptcy is never really what you call an easy way out and all have there different stories to tell and the reasons they are in the situation they are.

 

If you have no assets Bankruptcy is fairly painless though. If you have assets i.e equity in a house this is when it becomes problematical and can hurt. Has this person got any assets?

[toddle2u]

40.22 Fines

 

Any fine (as defined in the Magistrates Court Act 1980) imposed on a bankrupt for an offence is not provable. This includes parking fines and fines imposed as a result of criminal proceedings.

 

At section 150 of the Magistrates Court Act 1980 a fine is defined as including any pecuniary penalty or pecuniary forfeiture or pecuniary compensation payable under a conviction. In effect, this means that a fine is usually the result of a criminal conviction.

It has been shown that it is not a fine but a Judgment Order and is therefore provable and will be included in the BR

 

Within the meaning of Magistrates Court fines and bankruptcy - in bankruptcy only provable debts can be included. Also contingent liabilities can also be included for such a thing as a negative equity shortfall which may be realised after the Bankruptcy Order has been made. A Magistrate Court fine is not provable and therefore cannot be included and is therefore still due

Edited June 23, 2011 by toddle2u

[katan]

Some assets we know of. Believe she has undeclared income from many internet sites. Would bankruptcy receiver go after these? I listed as many as I could find for last court action.

katan.

[toddle2u]

The OR has duty to investigate the affairs of the bankrupt. The more information that you could supply them and supporting info the chances are the more they will investigate. However, the OR office is very overstretched themselves at the moment with limited resources and the reality is that people can hide assets from the OR. It's very risky to do this but people do and people do get away with it.

[katan]

Thanks for info on OR. I wouldn't be so determined to resolve this if it hadn't been such a violent assault. Some sort of action seems to be the best form of pain relief! All the times I have taken defendant back to court she has never produced Income tax returns, she keeps promising but never shows them.Might the Inland Revenue people be helpful?

[toddle2u]

Might the Inland Revenue people be helpful?

 

I understand your hurt and frustration but do you really want to go down that route. I am a big beleiver in that what goes around comes around! I do know someone who reported a creditor for charging VAT for goods when they weren't VAT registered and HMRC didn't even bother to return their call!!

[katan]

I would rather stop spending my retirement money and, at least, get back the costs! Your comment about it being a Judgement Order (sorry it takes me a while to absorb these things) Does this mean that I can make defendant bankrupt even if this is her only debt?

[toddle2u]

From what I can gather they are in breach of a legally binding agreement drawn up by a solicitor and backed by a judgment order by the County Court. So the simple answer is yes you can make them bankrupt for breaching the agreement and not paying what they have agreed to pay you. There are processes to go through thoug which aren't cheap. You need to have a Stat Demand personally served and then get the BR petition served on them. From what you have said so far they sound fairly vile and will do whatever they can to avoid paying which will mean they can apply to the Courts to have the SD set aside or go back to the Courts to have the amount they are paying redetermined or any number of things which just delays things further and ultimately costs you more. Are we talking a large sum here?

[katan]

OK I think I'm beginning to understand. When I last went back to court Judge gave us all we asked for,large monthly payments, lump sum and interest to continue. So debt on the judgment is over £100,000. No contact or payment so we produced, with a good solicitor, an agreement. Smaller lump sum, which was paid on time, and repayments of only £250 a month rather than the £1,000 ordered. Without interest growing this was a better deal than deserved, but she's stopped paying with over £40,000 still owing on the agreement. Hope I've explained clearly. My next question is-- Do I bankrupt her for the £40,000 on the agreement, or the £100,000 + on judgment ? I'm not bothered by her trying to get a reduction, with income information I have and judges comments, an increase is more likely, I would be pleased if she took it back to get it reduced but think it unlikely.

[toddle2u]

As I see it as she has broken the contract for the lesser sum and instalments you can revert back to the original larger sum and make her bankrupt for that amount. For the sums involved I would say go for it!

[katan]

Great to hear some positive comments, much appreciated. Would like your opinion (or anyone who has been thro this) on needing a solicitor at bankruptcy hearing. Me and husband (Golden Wedding next year) have found and indexed all evidence to judges complete satisfaction before, but too important to pinch pennies at this stage. Comments welcome.

[debtinfo]

This is a little more complicated, Personal injury is a proveable debt so you can make them bankrupt and can get a share of any assets recovered. PLUS the debt is not discharged by the bankruptcy, this is in your favour because if you dont get paid in full, it means that you can still ask the court to allow you to continue to chase the debt despite the bankruptcy. explained in the below extract from the IS technical manual

 

A liability of a bankrupt to pay damages to a third party in respect of a personal injury claim is a provable debt in bankruptcy and the bankrupt is not released from this debt upon discharge. However, if not dealt with within the judgment for damages itself, the court would need to decide whether to allow the debt to be pursued by the creditor post discharge. It is for the creditor rather than the official receiver to approach the court in this regard

[katan]

Thanks to debtinfo for taking the trouble to help. I had heard that it could be difficult bankrupting for personal injuries if I was the only creditor. You and others on the CAG site have not only made things much clearer, but have given me the strength to carry this on. My sincere thanks, and I will let you know how things progress,I'll probably need some more advice anyway! I'm taking a couple of days break from the computer, it will give me time to think, but I'll be back on Wednesday

Thanks again .

[debtinfo]

I would offer one word of warning though,

 

Bankruptcy is only worth persuing if the person has the means to pay you, if they dont then it wont do any good, (as the saying goes you cant get blood out of a stone), that is the calculation that you need to make, is it a can't pay or a wont pay? for instance if they have no assets but does have surplus income on a reular basis it may be better persuing something like an attachment of earnings order.

[katan]

Back again. In view of the fact that my assailant has not disclosed any of the requested documents in court, even at a Record of Examination before a judge, I think it will be as well to present OR with evidence I have rather than mess about any longer. What I really want is regular payments without hassle, and have been content to accept much less than judgement on that basis.

So I'm trying to 'revive' agreement, solicitor has written but I think she's on holiday- so I will give her a few days before doing any more. At least I am more confident now. So thanks for the advice.

[toddle2u]

Please keep us posted on developments