Judgment obtained without valid service

Palerider

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Curious about the validity of a court judgment obtained where it can be proven that the summons upon which the application was grounded was served on and a receipt of service provided by a person unconnected with the debtor, unconnected in every way, in this instance the case progressed and a judgment was awarded in the absence of any defence. Only after the judgment was awarded did the debtor become aware of any legal avenues being persued by the creditor and the fact that service cannot be relied upon as they have seen a copy of the receipt, they know of the individual that signed for it but no more than that.

The Court made no error but the paperwork supplied by the creditors solicitor showing proof of service was worthless due to an unconnected party signing for receipt of the summons and having nothing to do with the debtor.

Is it straightforward to go back to Court and have the debtors solicitor explain in detail and request to have the judgment set to one side pending reissuing of summons in due course.

I'm not getting into are the monies owed or not, just the legal aspect on the initial summons being incorrectly served with debtor never knowing about the Court date etc.
 
"I'm not getting into are the monies owed or not, "

That is probably where you need to start! If the money is due then, frankly, the debtor has been saved the costs of a court case.

Even if they were successful in having the judgment set aside, the chances are they'd have to lodge the full amount of the debt .

On the ins and outs of when service of court documents is deemed effected, see this link:
http://www.courts.ie/rules.nsf/0/bb3f5042116f58b280256d2b0046b400?OpenDocument

mf
 
Thanks for the link mf1, it seems that service does not meet the criteria in this case, even if service was good I'm not sure the debtor would have turned up in Court so the issue may be moot however invalid service is an issue and one the creditor could easily have overcome, perhaps room to negotiate if I can get the debtor to agree.
 
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