Small Claims Court consequences

Th1984 · 3 February 2013 at 2:32PM

( mods please move if in wrong place, thought DFW was most appropriate as people have more experience of CCJ's etc)

Hi all,

A couple of questions for those who have small claims court experience.

I am currently in dispute with an individual ( potentially could stretch description to sole trader ) regarding the value of their expenses I agreed verbally to cover.

If they start court proceedings and We lose the case does it count as a CCJ's on my credit fie if I pay as soon as judgement is issued. I have no intention of defying the courts or ignoring the fact that I owe something. but am genuinely unable to reach agreement on the sum to be paid.

I don't really want to screw my credit report up over £100 but I feel like I am being taken advantage of by someone and will not stand for their outrageous expense claim,

Thanks

zzzLazyDaisy · 3 February 2013 at 2:53PM

Th1984 wrote: »

If they start court proceedings and We lose the case does it count as a CCJ's on my credit fie if I pay as soon as judgement is issued. I have no intention of defying the courts or ignoring the fact that I owe something. but am genuinely unable to reach agreement on the sum to be paid.

Thanks

If you get a county court judgement against you, provided you pay it within one month, you can apply for it to be removed from the record, so if you do go to court, it is worth taking your cheque book with you. More info here:

https://www.gov.uk/county-court-judgments-ccj-for-debt/ccjs-and-your-credit-rating

But if the judgement goes against you, the chances are you will be ordered to pay their court costs which is likely to wipe out any advantage of you pushing the dispute to court.

So a good thing to consider is making a part 36 offer before he even issues proceedings. Basically you write a letter making them an offer to pay in full and final settlement under Part 36. If they refuse and still go to court and win, but the compensation is less than you offered, then you can ask the court to order him to pay his own court costs (note in the small claims court each side pays their own solicitor's fees, so this just relates to court costs and allowed legal fees for lodging the claim).

But you need to seek advice - eg from CAB, law centre, or from your insurer if you have legal insurance under your home contents policy - because a Part 36 offer is a technical process and if you get it wrong, then the court may disregard it.

kittiej · 3 February 2013 at 5:25PM

Is the full claim for £100 or is it for more but you dispute the £100 iyswim?

Have you received court papers - if so what does the particulars of claim say and when do you have to reply by?

If it hasn't gone to court yet and the agreement was verbal then what evidence do they have that the agreement was made? eg were there witnesses?

I would be inclined to say for the sake of an extra £100 take the hit and if you are ever in this situation again make sure everything is in writing. Sometimes you have to take the path of least resistance for a quiet life

Th1984 · 3 February 2013 at 6:00PM

The full 'invoice' was for £101, I believe I should be paying £30 as that is the cost of the fuel....

I haven't received papers yet but negotiations have broken down, even when I have offered as high as £60. I have been treated very poorly by this trainee 'professional' and am now minded to pay as little as possible (over the £30 which I do not argue is what is owed) as difficultly as possible.

The person involved has a history of jumping immediately to court (usually unsuccessfully) so I wish to protect myself and family as properly as possible. I have sought legal advice on the case but the advisor wasn't sure of the status of a judgement on credit reports.

I have a fairly healthy email trail to back up my case so I am minded to fight it!

kittiej · 3 February 2013 at 6:20PM

so what is their reasoning behind the extra £71? Did they ask for meals etc and were the extras for reasonable expenses? and do they have receipts?

If you have an email trail then this will be your backup. Have you paid what you think you owe this person? Maybe if you pay the £30 as you agreed and then see what the other side does.

Th1984 · 3 February 2013 at 6:25PM

Actually I haven't paid anything yet, should I? I was waiting to come to agreement with them on the final figure before I made any payment?

Extra £71 pounds was they charged me 40ppm when running cost of a car is 20ppm (as per aa 2012 figures) and they claimed for an additional 130 miles which was not part of the agreement.

kittiej · 3 February 2013 at 6:35PM

Well if it were me **and I'm not giving you personally any advice** I would pay the amount which had originally been agreed in the spirit of fairness and paying what I thought had been agreed as owed, and leave it to the other person involved to put up a fight if they so wished. Be careful not to show yourself as admitting to anything.

This would see them arguing over £71 and any reasonable person would think that the cost of starting a claim would not be worthwhile for such a small sum.

harrys_dad · 3 February 2013 at 9:12PM

The figure for tax purposes set by HMRC is 45p a mile. 40p per mile is not unreasonable at all. I would cut your losses and pay the bill, even though it hurts.

lindsloo · 3 February 2013 at 9:29PM

Government pays 45p per mile up to 10,000 miles and then it drops to 20p or 25p. If they take you to court then the judge is likely to enforce the governments allowance not AAs.

Put an offer in full and final settlement for what you are prepared to par, include a cheque. If they cash it it may hold in your defence that they have accepted the lower sum by cashing the cheque.

lindsloo · 3 February 2013 at 9:32PM

Offer 45p for agreed mileage as goodwill and let them fight for the rest.

kittiej · 3 February 2013 at 10:15PM

It depends on what they agreed as well and the 130 extra miles needs deducting so even at 45ppm it works out to be much less than £101.

Your offer of £60 has probably been fair under the circumstances but I would start with what was agreed in the first place since the other person does not seem to want to bend a little and negotiate.

Small Claims Court consequences

Comments

Categories

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free