Judgment registration in contested case

A judgment arising out of a contested county court hearing is not registrable at the Register of County Court Judgments etc—at least initially—if the claim was contested. Does this still apply if the defendant did not turn up at the trial which led to the judgment although he had filed a defence and otherwise participated in the proceedings?

Yes, it does. The filing of the defence would have rendered the claim contested for the purposes of the Register of Judgments, Orders and Fines Regulations 2005 (SI 2005/3595). The defendant’s absence from the trial does not convert the claim into an uncontested case. After all, the court might dismiss the claim on a one-sided hearing even in the defendant’s absence if the claimant’s case has not been proved to its satisfaction. It is not unknown for a defendant to file an unmeritorious defence with the sole object of prolonging registration of a judgment until enforcement