How do court proceedings work?

Defendant’s response

The Defendant may respond in one of three ways:

- Acknowledge service of the claim form

- Submit a Defence

- Submit an admission or part admission

If the Defendant wants to contest the Claim, they must either:

- File a Defence at Court and send it to the Claimant within 14 days of service of the particulars of claim; or

- File an acknowledgment of service (form N210) within 14 days (Note that the Defence must be submitted within 28 days of the particulars of claim).

The Claim will be allocated to one of the following court tracks:

- Small Claims Track – Claims worth less than £5,000;

- Fast Track – Claims worth between £5,000 - £25,000; or

- Multi-Track – Claims in excess of £25,000.

Court Management

The Court will manage the case through to the date of hearing by settiing a timetable for the parties to prepare the case and the Court’s timetable must be adhered to. The timetable includes ordesr (called 'Directions') setting out how the evidence should be gathered and considered by both parties. Failure to comply with the court timetable can result in sanctions such as having the claim struck out of court, having judgment entered for the other side and / or cost sanctions.

Court Directions – Standard Disclosure:

- Parties disclose to their opponent by listing the the documents they have on which they rely, which adversely affect their case, which adversley affect another party's case or which support another party's case.

- ‘Documents’ include electronic sources and covers both documents which have been in existence but no longer exist or are no longer in your party's possession.

- Each party must make a ‘reasonable’ search for their documents.

Court Directions – Exchange of evidence

The Directions make provision for the parties to exchange details of their evidence before the trial or hearing.

- Small Claims Hearings: Informal and conducted at the discretion of the Judge.

- Fast Track & Multi-track: Formal rules of evidence apply.

- Fast Track: At the end of the hearing the Judge will have resolved all the issues (liability, assessment of damages and costs).

- Multi–track: Judge will decide who is liable for costs.

The general rule is that the loser pays the winner’s costs. Although in practice, the winner will be awarded approximately 70-80% of its costs. If the parties do not agree the costs, the matter will be determined at a later date by detailed assessment.

For further details and advice please contact:

Jon Hainey

Tel: 0845 165 5456

jon.hainey@cobbetts.com

Tel: 0845 404 1520

nicholas.carr@cobbetts.com

Keith Mills

Tel: 0845 404 2426

keith.mills@cobbetts.com

The content of this briefing note is merely informative and should not be relied upon as a substitute for legal advice.

Copyright 2007 - All Rights Reserved - March 2007