Small Claims Court guide

aspie1962

I was under the impression that you can claim for lost earnings and that you can for distress, bearing in mind they still have not managed to send me an itemised bill as requested, yet threaten court action and we left last year. Also I guess I'm hoping as they are so inept they wont challenge it in 14 days. I also understood that a lay person is unlikely to get costs charged against them.

waamo

aspie1962 wrote: »

I was under the impression that you can claim for lost earnings and that you can for distress, bearing in mind they still have not managed to send me an itemised bill as requested, yet threaten court action and we left last year. Also I guess I'm hoping as they are so inept they wont challenge it in 14 days. I also understood that a lay person is unlikely to get costs charged against them.

If you lost you would be out of pocket for the court fees, generally in the region of £75.

If the judge feels you have acted unreasonably then further costs may be awarded against you. The bar for unreasonableness is pretty high though.

I have no idea why you think distress is actionable. Court is expected to be an absolute last resort. You don't appear to have exhausted all means of resolving this yet. Claims are also supposed to be for the absolute minimum and you have a duty to mitigate any losses for example by chasing them when you have no work on rather than cancel paid work to sort this out.

da_rule

aspie1962 wrote: »

I was under the impression that you can claim for lost earnings and that you can for distress, bearing in mind they still have not managed to send me an itemised bill as requested, yet threaten court action and we left last year. Also I guess I'm hoping as they are so inept they wont challenge it in 14 days. I also understood that a lay person is unlikely to get costs charged against them.

Distress = Generally not allowable unless it is so severe that it spills over into the realms of psychiatric injury. In which care you’re looking at a personal injury claim and would need medical evidence etc.

Lost earnings = Again, recoverable where there is a personal injury or employment claim. Lost earnings may also be recoverable if they stem from an actionable cause of action. Unfortunately you haven’t shown that the company have actually breached any contractual or statutory provisions in their dealings with you.

Lay person = Completely untrue. I always ask for, and I am generally awarded, costs, regardless of whether I am up against a litigant in person or a represented litigant. The Supreme Court has made it clear that a litigant in person is expected to follow and be subject to the same rules and will not be given any special treatment. This is especially true where the litigant in person is the claimant. If you opt to use the court as a sword you have to be prepared for the risks should you be defeated.

Badger38

Hi. I have spend hours looking but cant find an answer.

In short

Mcol issues

Today 11 th jan 2020 is the last day for response from the Defendant

Last night they paid the original invoice direct to me.

Do i still ask for judgement as the full amount including court fee wasnt paid.

The mcol guide only states actions if payment is full

Any advice appreciated

Thanks

waamo

Badger38 wrote: »

Hi. I have spend hours looking but cant find an answer.

In short

Mcol issues

Today 11 th jan 2020 is the last day for response from the Defendant

Last night they paid the original invoice direct to me.

Do i still ask for judgement as the full amount including court fee wasnt paid.

The mcol guide only states actions if payment is full

Any advice appreciated

Thanks

I'm presuming they just sent it to you without informing the court? Have they completed an Acknowledgement or Service? It might be worthwhile getting a default judgement and insisting on the full amount if you wish. There is no reason why you can't.

Badger38

Hi. I have spend hours looking but cant find an answer.

In short

Mcol issues

Today 11 th jan 2020 is the last day for response from the Defendant

Last night they paid the original invoice direct to me.

Do i still ask for judgement as the full amount including court fee wasnt paid.

The mcol guide only states actions if payment is full

Any advice appreciated

Thanks

waamo

I've already answered you.

da_rule

Badger38 wrote: »

Hi. I have spend hours looking but cant find an answer.

In short

Mcol issues

Today 11 th jan 2020 is the last day for response from the Defendant

Last night they paid the original invoice direct to me.

Do i still ask for judgement as the full amount including court fee wasnt paid.

The mcol guide only states actions if payment is full

Any advice appreciated

Thanks

Don’t request default judgment online (MCOL isn’t set up to deal with partial judgments). Use form N255 and send it to the court. On this form there is a box to deduct payments made since you started the claim.

As such, the value of the default judgment will just be the court fee, the fixed fee for filing the claim (if you claimed this when you started the claim) and the fixed fee for requesting default judgment.

You may decide you want to write to the defendant first and tell them you’re going to do this unless they pay the full amount of your claim, not just the invoice amount.

babyblade41

Not sure if I'm posting in the right forum but please feel free to point in the right direction.

I won a case in SCC , I applied for 3rd party debt order but the company bank acc had been moved , the company did issue a short defence in the original case but didn't turn up to court .

They have now applied to have the case set aside with pages of defence this time at the court which is closest to them and nearly 200 miles from me (original case was in my home town)

I am prepared to travel to the court for the hearing, but my understanding is that if they had supplied a defence originally they can no longer ask to have the case set aside

DoaM

They can still apply for a set-aside ... them having defended the original claim though means they've got a very high bar to get over for the set-aside to be successful. Having not properly defended is not a valid reason for a set-aside.

What reasoning are they giving for the set-aside?