Small Claims Court Process

[ico1234567]

I had to file a small claims court against a large company, disputed items. I have been told that they need to respond by a date in July.

After they respond, what happens, can they contest the claim ? ask for more backup ? and then does anyone knows what happens after that ? How long do I have to respond and in terms of documentation, what level of detail does the documentation need to be at ?

We have over 100 emails to and fro on this matter plus bank statements, contracts, call scripts etc.

Its going to take some hours / days to put this altogether in some kind of comprehensive pack... so I need to start now if that is the case.

Thank you

 

[The Byre]

I strongly recommend that you contact @smallclaimsassistance (crew-member of this very boat) for guidance.

 

[Gecko001]

My experience of a small claims court is you turn up, get sworn in and answer the questions the judge puts to you. You need to have any relevant information at hand, but since there are usually a lot of cases to be heard in a morning, there will be no time for an in depth-inquiry.

 

[Big G]

My experience of a small claims court is you turn up, get sworn in and answer the questions the judge puts to you. You need to have any relevant information at hand, but since there are usually a lot of cases to be heard in a morning, there will be no time for an in depth-inquiry.

Not exactly my experience of it unfortunately..

My experience is something like:

1. You have issued your claim.
2. The Court have sealed your claim and served it on the debtor
3. the Court have sent a Notice of Issue to you informing you of the dates that the claim was deemed served on the debtor and the date in which that the debtor has to reply to the claim.

What happens from this point :

1. If the debtor responds to the Court with a notice of their intention to defend the claim then they will have 28 days from the date of service to file a fully detailed defence.
If they do not do this you can apply for a Judgmebt by default. If they do file the full defence then the Court will sound out documents called Directions Questionnaires to both parties that asks how many witnesses you wish to rely on, what dates you are available, etc. Both parties need to complete these documents so the Court can allocate it to the correct hearing. At this point you will also be able to opt for mediation.
You will then receive the Notice of Hearing that will usually state that each party has to file their Witness Statements and all evidence no less than 14 days prior to the hearing.
You then attend the hearing and hope that the Judge rules in your favour.

The timescales on this entire process are really difficult to advise as it depends on the times available in the Court that it is allocated to and what back logs they have. It will also depend on what dates the parties are available to attend a hearing.

Hope this helps but happy to answer any further questions you may have regarding it.

Best of luck!

 

[Charlie B ACS]

Not exactly my experience of it unfortunately..

My experience is something like:

1. You have issued your claim.
2. The Court have sealed your claim and served it on the debtor
3. the Court have sent a Notice of Issue to you informing you of the dates that the claim was deemed served on the debtor and the date in which that the debtor has to reply to the claim.

What happens from this point :

1. If the debtor responds to the Court with a notice of their intention to defend the claim then they will have 28 days from the date of service to file a fully detailed defence.
If they do not do this you can apply for a Judgmebt by default. If they do file the full defence then the Court will sound out documents called Directions Questionnaires to both parties that asks how many witnesses you wish to rely on, what dates you are available, etc. Both parties need to complete these documents so the Court can allocate it to the correct hearing. At this point you will also be able to opt for mediation.
You will then receive the Notice of Hearing that will usually state that each party has to file their Witness Statements and all evidence no less than 14 days prior to the hearing.
You then attend the hearing and hope that the Judge rules in your favour.

The timescales on this entire process are really difficult to advise as it depends on the times available in the Court that it is allocated to and what back logs they have. It will also depend on what dates the parties are available to attend a hearing.

Hope this helps but happy to answer any further questions you may have regarding it.

Best of luck!

In a case I'm dealing with at the moment, the direction from the court stated that, with the consent of both parties, he would judge the case on the paperwork alone.

 

[Big G]

In a case I'm dealing with at the moment, the direction from the court stated that, with the consent of both parties, he would judge the case on the paperwork alone.

Very interesting.

Is one of the parties arguments much stronger than the others in your opinion? Or if it is all written terms of contract that the parties are disputing then maybe the Judge feels that witnesses being cross examined would not add anything to the case?

 

[ico1234567]

There are reams of paperwork on this, is the judge going to read through all of this ? Thanks for the earlier recommendation, would have taken it had I have know, but now just another 10 days to go before I get a response.

 

[smallclaimsassistance]

Very interesting.

Is one of the parties arguments much stronger than the others in your opinion? Or if it is all written terms of contract that the parties are disputing then maybe the Judge feels that witnesses being cross examined would not add anything to the case?

This is a method of trial which has been used for years in the Fast Track. This kind of conclusion is called a Disposal. It happens where the judge considers that the evidence submitted to court (evidence comprising documents, media and witness statements) is sufficient to reach a determination without further input by the witnesses themselves. These are the exception rather than the rule and are never used in cases which have complex issues of fact or law or which involve complex expert evidence.

Dean

 

[ico1234567]

Sorry, and understand if no response, as should have taken proper advice.. if the defendant asks for more time to respond -- can I reject this request ?

 

[smallclaimsassistance]

Yes you can although be aware that if you do refuse they could lodge a formal application to extend time for filing their defence which will drag things out even further. If they're not represented by solicitors this is not something they are likely to do.

Dean

 

[ico1234567]

it appears they are represented, thank you.. amazing country we have here, not many places in the world you can pursue unjust behaviour !

 

[ico1234567]

As forever I am grateful for the community. Have been asked that they want to go through mediation now....and also been approached directly by the claimant to provide evidence as they have lost the data....

Do I give them all the back up, even though they rejected the claim without having this evidence in the first instance.

Up to now no approach to settle this directly despite a tonne of correspondence, and now they want mediation.. do I email the court service with the claim reference and reject the mediation ?

 

[Supercoach]

Up to now no approach to settle this directly despite a tonne of correspondence, and now they want mediation.. do I email the court service with the claim reference and reject the mediation ?

You are where you are. Just decide what you want and don't let what happened previously sway you away from that.
If you have correspondence that helps your case why reject mediation?