Court summons to person who doesn't exist

maki

I was having a discussion about TV Licences last night and an interesting topic came up.

If an inspector calls to the door and is given a fake name, and following that a court summons is issued to that name, what exactly happens?

Our man in Havana

Mr Fake Name will be convicted and the Gardaí will try and arrest him once he defaults on the fine.

nuac

Inspector might return, with a Garfda. Judges not amused with fake names.

dermot_sheehan

nuac wrote: »

Inspector might return, with a Garfda. Judges not amused with fake names.

And do what?

Not trying to be awkward but the Broadcasting Act 2009 contains no penalization for supply of a fake name.

Nor even is there an obligation under the act to supply a name.

The garda's Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act 1994 power to demand a person's name only applies in a public place.

So if Mr Fake Name was visited by the TV licence inspector with the gardai, other then snoop around his property, what can be done?

Arguably the warrant for imprisonment for failure to pay the fine could be executed against the occupier who gave the fake name as he was convicted, the purpose of the summons was to summons him to court, and he should have known he should have appeared on foot of it.

But the Fines Act 2010 provides imprisonment shall be a last resort, with garnisheeing and civil enforcement being preferred. It would be hard to do that with an incorrect name on the court order.

Grolschevik

dermot_sheehan wrote: »

And do what?

Not trying to be awkward but the Broadcasting Act 2009 contains no penalization for supply of a fake name.

Nor even is there an obligation under the act to supply a name.

The garda's Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act 1994 power to demand a person's name only applies in a public place.

So if Mr Fake Name was visited by the TV licence inspector with the gardai, other then snoop around his property, what can be done?

Arguably the warrant for imprisonment for failure to pay the fine could be executed against the occupier who gave the fake name as he was convicted, the purpose of the summons was to summons him to court, and he should have known he should have appeared on foot of it.

But the Fines Act 2010 provides imprisonment shall be a last resort, with garnisheeing and civil enforcement being preferred. It would be hard to do that with an incorrect name on the court order.

But what if he asserted his identity as "Fake, of the family Name"?

MagicSean

He would likely be convcited under whatever name he supplied.

dermot_sheehan

and then what happens?

CIARAN_BOYLE

The man who gave the fake name would be arrested and the fine/inprisonment would apply to him and any bail application would be turned down cause he lied when giving his name originally

Isn't that how this works out?

Our man in Havana

No.

dermot_sheehan

Our man in Havana wrote: »

No.

The offence under the broadcasting act is not arrestable so a warrant would have too issue for the arrest, either a bench warrant or a warrant from a failure to pay the fine.

Bench warrants would almost never issue for this offence given how minor it is, the district court would convict and fine in the absence of the accused. This is unlike a conviction for driving without insurance where many judges would issue a warrant to secure the attendance of the accused given that it carries six months custody.

Prior to the Fines Act 2010 coming into force, a warrant of commital would issue automatically when the fine wasnt paid. Arguably this would authorise the arrest and detention of Mr Fake Name, since regardless of what name he gave, he was found with a tv, summonsed under the name he gave, was convicted when he didnt appear, and then thewarrant issued. Presumably the tv licence inspector to whom he gave the original name would be called by the gardai to confirm that the person they were arresting was the same person who was found with a tv, gave his name as mr x, and was summonsed under that name.

The Fines Act 2010 however provides for civil execution to be used before imprisonment, and its difficult to garnish a persons bank account with the conviction in the incorrect name. I suppose an application could be made to court to amend the name of the defendant.

A more interesting problem arises if a homeowner simply remains mute and refuses to give any info to a tv licence inspector. They dont appear to be under any legal obligation to.

Our man in Havana

A more interesting problem arises if a homeowner simply remains mute and refuses to give any info to a tv licence inspector. They dont appear to be under any legal obligation to.

Indeed. That would appear to be the case Dermot.

Thinkingaboutit

nuac wrote: »

Inspector might return, with a Garfda. Judges not amused with fake names.

I think so, and Pat Kenny needs his 600k or maybe the 500k he now struggles on in solidarity with the poor and unemployed. I'm interested in this topic.

KTRIC

I find not giving them your name in the first place works a threat. I refused the inspector that called to my door and he couldn't do anything about it.

Zambia

Just open the door stark naked they just go away.

Our man in Havana

KTRIC wrote: »

I find not giving them your name in the first place works a threat. I refused the inspector that called to my door and he couldn't do anything about it.

You need to be careful of the Columbo types that will get a name from the bin.

spunk_monkey

Best way to handle them.


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