Being poor, taken to court outright? (4,2)

I believe the answer is:

hard up

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'being poor' is the definition.
('hard up' can be similar in meaning to 'poor')

I don't understand the rest of the clue.

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(Other definitions for hard up that I've seen before include "Short of cash" , "Informally short of money - that's tough" , "Short of money - it's tough at the top" , "Impecunious" , "Struggling to make ends meet" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.

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