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The
County Court System |
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The
Small Claims Court originally came about to offer
an easier method than was already in existence
for both businesses and the public to recover
debts without having to go through expensive legal
advisors.
There are three tracks possible for a Small Claims
Court Claim:
1) Small Claims Track
2) Fast-Track
3) Multi-Track
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The
Small Claims Track |
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Up
to £5,000 for claims for debt. The claim to be
adjudicated by a judge in chambers. Court fees
can be recovered. Fixed costs only can be recovered
if appropriate. Small Claims hearings are administrated
by the Court Service at local County Courts.
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The
Fast Track |
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Up
to £15,000 for claims for debt.The claim may be
adjudicated by a judge in chambers or by direction
in open court.Court fees can be recovered. Full
costs can be recovered as directed by the judge.
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The
Multi Track |
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Above
£15,000 for claims for debt.The claim will be
heard in open court.Court fees can be recovered.Full
costs can be recovered.
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Action
Prior To Issuing Proceedings |
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The
court do require that all avenues of settlement
are explored prior to the issuing of proceedings.
This means that the other side should be given
a reasonable period of time to respond to a payment
demand before a claim is filed at court.
In many cases the other side may request extra
time in order to investigate the potential claim.
A reasonable period of time is between 7 and 14
days (we favour 10 days) which should be allowed.
After that, if there is no positive response,
proceedings can and should be issued.
In all cases full documentary evidence of the
claim should be disclosed to the other side at
the earliest opportunity. Any omissions could
result in the documents being ruled "inadmissible"
by the judge and give the other side opportunity
for further delay. |
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The Court
procedure |
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Small
Claims are not heard in open court but by a
judge in chambers. Effectively, the evidence
is heard in informal surroundings around a table
and the judge will make an immediate decision.
It should be noted that there is no formal appeal
procedure - you get a full and final result
on the day. However, if a decision is made in
your absence because you could not attend through
no fault of your own you can apply for the Judgment
to be set aside.
Judges tend to be very patient with lay claimants
as they know that they will be both nervous
and unaccustomed to court procedures. However,
there are strict rules of conduct and verbal
abuse, interruptions and unreasonable behaviour
are not tolerated.
Fast Track Claims may be heard in open court
depending on the directions of the judge. If
so the services of a solicitor are advisable.
Multi
Track claims are always heard in open court
and legal advice and representation is definitely
desirable. |
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Making
a County Court Claim |
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The
County Court Claims procedure starts with the
completion of a standard form. This details the
substance of the claim and who the Claimant and
Defendant are. On completion the form is returned
to the Court office with the Court Fee.
A summons will then be sent out by post to the
Defendant who has the option to:
Ignore it.
Admit the claim and pay you in full.
Admit part of the claim and pay you in part.
Admit the claim (or part of) and request to pay
you in installments.
Dispute the claim in its entirety.
If the claim or part of the claim is disputed
the matter will be set down for a Court hearing.
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The small-claims-debt
(UK) Ltd support service |
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small-claims-debt
(UK) Ltd can advise you in respect of your County
Court Claims problem, complete your Court documents
and liaise with the Court. For this service there
is no charge from DC uk but please note the Court
and filing fees which must be paid in advance
in all but exceptional circumstances entered before.
Please do not forget that if proceedings are issued
you will need to pay the Court fees in advance
together with our administration fee for the filing
of the N1 form at the Court - these are recoverable
on a successful conclusion. Please see Court
Fees & Costs for the scale of fees. If
you require it, we can refer you to one of our
panel of solicitors for full legal advice - this
will involve you in additional costs which may
not be recoverable. You can recover costs as a
"litigant in person" on the Fast and Muti-Track
schemes but you will need to keep a careful record
of every hour spent & every expense incurred
and will only recover 1/2 to 2/3rds of the sum
a solicitor would recover on your behalf. |
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What you should do next |
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Please
contact us using our online submission form from
the Fast
Track if you have any procedural or
other questions in respect of the above. If you
instruct us we may suggest a suitable solicitor
to deal with your legal requirements. |
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Further Information |
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Further
information about the Small Claims Court is available
on our website at www.small-claims-debt.co.uk |
