Small Claims Court guide

Hoseman

Hi again, Ive got another question relating to the SCC. My partner filled in the forms and its got to the stage where a county court judgement has been served and they were ordered to pay by yesterday 13th June. This has caused some action because after months of very little feedback and lies, they have been in contact to say they can make one part payment on Monday and will make a second payment to settle the full amount a few weeks later on the proviso that the CCJ is lifted. It turns out that the only way to discontinue the claim is by confirming payment has been received, therefore a deal on their terms cannot be struck.

The problem with their offer is that they have made many promises to pay in the past (i.e lies) which is why we it got the SCC in the first place.

Can somebody tell me if my partner is still empowered to agree payment terms with the defendant at this point? Looking at the information online, the defendant can submit an application to 'vary' through the courts, by providing details of income and expenditure with their offer, but it's not clear whether it's recommended that my partner should respond to the offer put on the table now that they have missed the date by which they have been ordered to pay.

Our next option now is to choose to 'proceed with enforcement', and my partner is considering a response to their offer by proposing to delay going to the next step until payment of 50% is received as per their offer on Monday. Again, can someone inform me whether it is advisable for my partner to respond in this way?

I think I'm right in thinking that the defendant's options right now are to pay up or contest it, or apply to 'vary'. Is this correct?

jason_c_2

I done some work for someone back in August last year. The person I done the work for agreed to the costs before any work was started. After a month of no contact, I finally heard back from him saying that he had his credit card cloned and his son was in hospital and his daughter was also taken ill and then his wife was in hospital for weeks. Just seems to be one excuse after another or very bad luck. But kept being told that I will have to wait. After weeks of chatting via messenger, facebook chat and text messages we seem to have agreed on a payment plan and I got the first payment of £9, then nothing since.

I am wanting to claim £285 and so far only £9 has been paid and now they claim to have nothing to give anymore. Yet their facebook page which I am still able to view shows many times that money is spent on flowers and gifts and other stuff that is being boasted about. I have signed up to make a claim online but wanted to make sure that I do not end up paying out more than its worth. I understand that there is a £25 fee, but its all the other possible fees after this that I do not know about.

I know that I may go through all of this and still end up with nothing. Although £285 is not a large amount it is still owed. If I was to win and they do not pay this could they get a CCJ ? I am wanting to know what I can advise them what could happen should they not continue the payments no matter how small, in the hope that it would help them and me get this sorted sooner.

Crazy_Jamie

Might as well have a crack at responding to some of these posts.

jason_c wrote: »

I know that I may go through all of this and still end up with nothing. Although £285 is not a large amount it is still owed. If I was to win and they do not pay this could they get a CCJ ? I am wanting to know what I can advise them what could happen should they not continue the payments no matter how small, in the hope that it would help them and me get this sorted sooner.

If you win they will have 14 days by default to pay the outstanding judgment. If they fail to do so you have a range of options available to you to enforce that judgment, and it is at that point that the CCJ goes on to their credit history. So technically yes, if they do not pay they could get a CCJ. On a side note, your court fees will be added to the judgment amount if you win, and therefore will fall to be repaid.

Hoseman wrote:

I think I'm right in thinking that the defendant's options right now are to pay up or contest it, or apply to 'vary'. Is this correct?

Depending on the circumstances leading to the judgment being entered it may be possible for them to apply to set the judgment aside, but this would by no means be automatic and they would have to show either some kind of procedural irregularity, or that they have reasonable prospects of defending the claim. Enforcement is by no means my specialist area, but I believe the other side can apply to have the CCJ removed from their record if it is paid in full within 28 days. Otherwise they can obtain a certificate of satisfaction to show that it has been paid, but it will remain on the record regardless. The only way to then remove it after payment would be to apply to the court to set aside the judgment, but that would only be done in exceptional circumstances after the fact.

Retrooster wrote:

I want to claim compensation rom a motor manufacturer for a deteriorating finish on their alloy wheels. I bought the bike from new. I have the original invoice, several letters of complaint and photographs. Do I have send all of these in with my initial forms please?

No; if the matter is contested and proceeds to trial there will be a direction from the court to disclose all documents that you want to rely on by a certain date. You will have to send the documents at that stage. There's nothing to stop you sending in those documents with the claim form, and they will probably end up on the court file as a result, but you don't have to.

kayej wrote:

I am unsure how to take an international company to small claims court? I made a airline booking on Qantas and ended up spending a lot more money than I should have due to their sales staff giving wrong information - which Qantas have admitted to but I'm unsure how I can take them to small claims?

This may well be more complicated than it first seems, especially in terms of jurisdiction as such, but Qantas do have a UK address in London. In the absence of any other suggestions, you may want to just proceed against them and specify that address as being the address for service. If they accept that the debt is owing they may just settle it in any event.

http://www.londononline.co.uk/profiles/132497/

RoyBGood wrote:

I've just started a claim against a Building Society for PPI mis-selling in the small claims court, but on the defendant's paperwork, following the sub-heading 'What the Court is being asked to do' they say 'the claimant do pay the Defendant's costs of this matter, to be summarily assessed if not agreed'. I previously understood that the whole point of the small claims court was that this David could take on Goliath without fear of being exposed to the risks of paying the Building Society's costs if I lost - could someone with appropriate knowledge and experience comment on this? Thank you.

You are correct that the normal costs order in small claims court is that the Claimant is only entitled to fixed costs if he wins, and the Defendant is not entitled to costs unless there has been a counter claim. However, the court does have discretion to award costs on the small claims track if one party has acted unreasonably. Unless your claim is frivolous or you have acted unreasonably in some other way it is highly unlikely that you will be made to pay the other side's costs, even if you lose, so generally speaking that shouldn't be something that you need to worry about. Of course if the claim is allocated to the fast track (either because it is worth over £10,000 or if the court deems it to be too complicated for the small claims track) normal costs rules will apply and you will have to pay the other side's costs if you lose, so watch out for that, but providing the claim is worth less than £10,000 it should be allocated to the small claims track.

Naughtnat wrote:

Can we also add the cost of us having someone else in to rectify the job to our claim?

No, because that would be double recovery and you would have effectively had the job done for free. Your options are either to pursue a full refund, or to pursue him for the cost of rectifying the work. Generally speaking the court will be looking to award the latter, as the general principle of damages in contract law is that damages should put a party into the position they would have been in had a breach not occurred, which means the work being done correctly.

1angrymum wrote:

I paid £150 to a so called friend on 4th April for some concert tickets for my daughters birthday present, on the 26th may I contacted her and asked what was happening, I had 2 responses but only one saying she will post them through my letterbox the night before the concert, on the morning of the concert still no tickets so when I finally got in touch with her I went to her house to collect them.
She refused to give them to me saying I hadnt communicated with her, she knew full well that only 3 wk before I has lost my baby at 17wk and had been in and out of hospital as well as suffering from depression, I told her that the concert was the last thing I wanted and she said well Im not giving them you so I asked for my money back and she said once she had sold them, I left peeved to say the least. Since I have heard nothing about the tickets or money only a message saying it was me who had let my daughter down and she had done nothing wrong, I have contacted the police but as it is a civil matter they cant help, so I have been advised by them and the CAB to make a claim through the small claims court, I have sent her a message today highlighting this giving her 28days to respond with her intentions but im not expecting anything. Am I in with a chance of winning or this even being accepted as it is only for £150. I wouldnt really bother but it was my daughters birthday present and this friend of mine knew this so it really is a 12yr old she has stolen from.
please advise

On the face of it you have a good claim for the £150; the value of the claim is irrelevant to your prospects of success. You just need to be aware that bringing a claim requires you to pay up front costs in the form of an issue fee, and potentially an allocation fee or hearing fee if the matter is contested. Those amounts will be added to the judgment amount if you win, but the whole process can take time. If you want to pursue this based on principle that is fine, but if you don't need the money it may be better just to move on from this rather than go through the potential rigour of a claims process.

InNeedOfALittleHelp

wanting to make a claim against an individual.
I done some work for someone back in August last year. The person I done the work for agreed to the costs before any work was started. After a month of no contact, I finally heard back from him saying that he had his credit card cloned and his son was in hospital and his daughter was also taken ill and then his wife was in hospital for weeks. Just seems to be one excuse after another or very bad luck. But kept being told that I will have to wait. After weeks of chatting via messenger, facebook chat and text messages we seem to have agreed on a payment plan and I got the first payment of £9, then nothing since.

I am wanting to claim £285 and so far only £9 has been paid and now they claim to have nothing to give anymore. Yet their facebook page which I am still able to view shows many times that money is spent on flowers and gifts and other stuff that is being boasted about. I have signed up to make a claim online but wanted to make sure that I do not end up paying out more than its worth. I understand that there is a £25 fee, but its all the other possible fees after this that I do not know about.

I know that I may go through all of this and still end up with nothing. Although £285 is not a large amount it is still owed. If I was to win and they do not pay this could they get a CCJ ? I am wanting to know what I can advise them what could happen should they not continue the payments no matter how small, in the hope that it would help them and me get this sorted sooner.

So if I win and they do not pay do I do anything to have the CCJ added to their credit report or is this automatic? Do I have to pay to have this done ? If they do not pay and I ask the court to attempt to force the payments to be made with whatever law allows and whatever payment terms available, do I pay to have this done ?

C00kie_2

Hello

Weird questions...is there a time limit for matters? I lent money to a boyfriend...now long since an ex, and I suffered from a stroke which meant I didn't do anything to get my money back, then tried asking....and kept getting put off. Got annoyed so said pay in a year, heard nothing so after 6months messaged that was it coming, and got annoyed message that it was a gift and I'd forgotten. I still very much doubt this, have never given money as a gift and it was never said for a couple of years. Now its been a year...and every time I try and speak to him now he changes his email, he's changed his phone, I've tried emailing his sister..she now isn't replying and swapped her phone. I got back £100 but still got £220 left....is it too late to take this to court? I don't know if there are time limits. Plus I have a final thing I have to find out..I don't know his new address...I have found one he class he's moved from but I thought I could try and check if he's seen near it. But still... Not sure if there's a time limit. Anyone know?

C00kie_2

Oh and final question...if I do raise it with the courts...I presume he'll see my address, not a major problem but pretty sure he's forgotten it now and presume he'll keep popping round if I took it to court. Would he have to see my address or are his papers just to a court?

terryw

You have six years to make a claim. You need his address for service. You have to give an address for service. You could possibly lose the case if it is defended.

Have you any proof that it was a loan and not a gift?

Even if you win, how will you enforce the judgment if he is determined not to pay?

Is this not a case of putting it down to experience?

C00kie_2

Its tough as I don't want him to get away with it. I've no proof it was a loan just that it was on emails to pay back and he kept dismissing it each time but not in saying it wasn't a loan just by saying things like 'I'll look into that aren't you doing better'. I've never given him a gift of money and this was a bank transfer not just handing over cash. If it was a gift he didn't know about I wouldn't have had his bank details.

As the cost of the case would be under £100 and if he doesn't win, which I'm doubting he would if emails are seen, but if he lost he pays it all. If I loose I'd pay it.

terryw

Obviously you have to make your own decisions about this. The whole thing is thwart with problems. If he puts in a defence the case will be transferred to the court where he resides for the hearing. If you obtain judgment by default he can still apply for judgment to be set aside.

Even if you do win the court case, remember it is not like cases on daytime TV where the award is just handed over. You have to enforce the judgment which will cost you more money - and many many judgments remain unsatisfied because the defendants are so slippery.

Your call really. Do you feel capable and competent to follow the court procedures? Ask yourself if you are not just putting good money after bad?

This thread

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/76953

might be useful reading.

C00kie_2

Thanks very much for all that, I'll have a big think!