Small Claims Court - procedure

[brightncheerful]

In March 2016. i issued a claim for non-payment of my fees. Doesn't happen very often that I have to issue proceedings (maybe once or twice a year, once in a while) and usually the sort of people I deal with then pay up, full of apologies. In this case the defendant is defending the claim. I don't have any experience but the sum concerned isn't worthwhile instructing a solicitor to act for me so I thought I could do it myself.

The defendant's reasons I consider spurious and probably a misunderstanding of case-law; also the defendant confirmed that I could require an interim fee so in the hope of skipping this claim I issued an interim invoice for the same amount but that has not been paid either. Anyhow, the court notified us the matter would be mediated and we should keep some dates/times available but then informed us that no one was available. the matter was then transferred to another court.

For reasons that need not concern, I amended my application to ensure that the name of the defendant was in fact correct. The defendant hadn't corrected his name following receipt of the claim which made me think he might try to wriggle out it. I telephoned the court and was told a simple letter explaining would suffice so I did that, only for the judge to state that a letter is not an application. I forked out more money in court fees, the application was granted I received confirmation.

Since then, nothing. What should i do? Contacting the court office I did not find not easy, different telephone numbers, redirected here and there no one seemed to know. Any suggestions?

[Clitheroekid]

Unfortunately, this sort of chaos is becoming worse all the time as the court structure is gradually destroyed. Cases are transferred between courts and files are lost regularly.

If you still want to go ahead with mediation then the current contact details for the mediation service are: telephone - 01604 795511; email - scmenquiries@hmcts.gsi.gov.uk

An alternative is just to abandon the attempt at mediation and tell the court that you can't afford to wait indefinitely while an over-stretched service tries to fit you in. You would then just ask them to list the matter for a normal hearing ASAP.

If you are confident that the Defendant really doesn't have a viable defence then you should have applied for summary judgment as soon as you received his defence and before the case was allocated to the small claims track. I know it's too late now, but it's worth bearing in mind should you ever have to sue another client.

There is no real provisioon for summary judgment once it's in the SCT, though you could try asking the court to list the case for a preliminary hearing under CPR rule 27.6 (1) (b) on the basis that the Defendant has no real prospect of success at a final hearing - http://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/proced ... art27#27.6.

This shouldn't be treated as an application as such, so there should be no fee payable, but such is the chaos in the courts these days that you may get asked for one.

Incidentally, I've just noticed that the link to a URL is now working - excellent! Now if we could just have a spellcheck we would actually be ahead of TMF!

[Lootman]

Now if we could just have a spellcheck we would actually be ahead of TMF!

There is a spell-checker when I use this site. Maybe it's in my browser (Chrome)?

[johnhemming]

I sued Virgin Media early this year when they refused to pay me back a credit until I printed some headed notepaper and wrote to them on that notepaper. They paid the credit and some of the interest, but wouldn't pay any costs and underpaid the interest by a trivial amount.

I found the mediation service quite good at resolving the situation when Virigin Media were unwilling to compromise.

[PinkDalek]

Now if we could just have a spellcheck we would actually be ahead of TMF!

There is a spell-checker when I use this site. Maybe it's in my browser (Chrome)?

Yes, that (Chrome) is what's doing your spell checking (if needed). Some other browsers likewise.

PD

[brightncheerful]

Thanks, CK.

Rather than be out of my depth. I am considering asking you to act for me, if you'd be willing to take on this matter?
You have my website, please contact me by email and let me know.

Bnc