Flight delay and cancellation compensation, Tui/Thomson ONLY

shibumi

I won a TUI flight delay claim in the small claims court back in January 2024 and am now helping another family member with their claim (same flights different booking).  TUI are defending their claim even though the facts /evidence have already been tested in court.   Can I attend court with them as a witness? Does the claimant need to attend court as well? Thanks 

eskbanker

shibumi said:

I won a TUI flight delay claim in the small claims court back in January 2024 and am now helping another family member with their claim (same flights different booking).  TUI are defending their claim even though the facts /evidence have already been tested in court.   Can I attend court with them as a witness? Does the claimant need to attend court as well? Thanks 

Small claims actions don't set any sort of legal precedent, so there's no reason for the second judge to be influenced by the decision of the first, i.e. it's starting again with a clean sheet.

I don't know enough about the procedure to comment on whether you'd be able to participate in any way, but even if you could, I can't see that it would be instead of the claimant....

mdann52

shibumi said:

I won a TUI flight delay claim in the small claims court back in January 2024 and am now helping another family member with their claim (same flights different booking).  TUI are defending their claim even though the facts /evidence have already been tested in court.   Can I attend court with them as a witness? Does the claimant need to attend court as well? Thanks 

Yes, anyone can normally observe small claims court from the public gallery. Do you mean can you take part in presenting the case, or as a witness for the claimant?

If the claimant doesn't attend, they usually lose fairly automatically. The judge can still review the evidence, but it allows the defendant to question points of the evidence without the claimant brolly able to reply

shibumi

mdann52 said:

shibumi said:

I won a TUI flight delay claim in the small claims court back in January 2024 and am now helping another family member with their claim (same flights different booking).  TUI are defending their claim even though the facts /evidence have already been tested in court.   Can I attend court with them as a witness? Does the claimant need to attend court as well? Thanks 

Yes, anyone can normally observe small claims court from the public gallery. Do you mean can you take part in presenting the case, or as a witness for the claimant?

If the claimant doesn't attend, they usually lose fairly automatically. The judge can still review the evidence, but it allows the defendant to question points of the evidence without the claimant brolly able to reply

Thank you.  Can I act as a witness ? And will I be able to attend as a witness should the claimant not be able to attend? Many thanks 

shibumi

Also can I present the case even though I am not a legal representative? Thank you 

martindow

A McKenzie Friend is someone who can be allowed to sit alongside a claimant, but they cannot speak or try to direct what is happening as you wish to do.  They are there for moral support.  I think only a legally qualified person such as a solicitor can act as you wish.

https://www.legalchoices.org.uk/about/types-of-lawyers/other-lawyers/mckenzie-friends

eskbanker

https://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/civil/rules/part27/pd_part27 refers to the concept of a lay representative, in the context of "A party may present his own case at a hearing or a lawyer or lay representative may present it for him", but I don't know if it's relevant here?

shibumi

Thank you I will research further.  I guess I was hoping to be a witness and present my evidence as such that I used for my own case. 

eskbanker

shibumi said:

Thank you I will research further.  I guess I was hoping to be a witness and present my evidence as such that I used for my own case. 

I'd have thought that the two roles are quite distinct, i.e. a representative would do all the talking on behalf of the claimant, whereas a witness would typically be adding credibility by endorsing specific aspects of the claimant's arguments with specialist expertise or simply independence and impartiality?

To what extent is your evidence different from that of the claimant and are they not confident about using the same arguments you relied on?

mdann52

Have you been listed as a witness by the claimant?

If you want to appear as a witness, you will have to be named as such, provide a statement, and TUI can question this. 

You cannot appear as both a Witness and a Lay Representative.