SCC claim struck out due to non-payment of hearing fee - how to get it reinstated?

cinereus

Help!

I have a court hearing on 23rd April where I am the claimant in the case. This has been going on since November.

The last time I heard from the court was to arrange mediation which I did. We finished the mediation and I have received no official communication since then. I put this down to Covid-related delays.

However, today I have received an email saying the case has been struck out and vacated due to non-payment of the hearing fee on 26 March. I have had no warning about this nor any request for a fee nor any explanation of how to pay a fee. In any case, the mediation is not finished yet so the fee couldn't have been paid anywhere.

I understand I have to make some sort of application to get the case unstruck out. How do I do this and what wording do I need?

twhitehousescat

it would probably be cheaper to actually start a new claim , the costs could be less than the "unstruck out" fees which you would not be able to claim back in court 

unless you can get court to admit they never advised date to pay hearing date costs 

cinereus

That's what I thought. I'm just worried about having to pay costs too.

cinereus

It seems I can make a N244 application to reinstate the claim but I'm not sure how to fill out the form.

ciderboy2009

twhitehousescat said:

it would probably be cheaper to actually start a new claim

The problem with doing this is that the defendant could just file a defence stating that the cause of action is exactly the same as that in case number XXXXXX which was struck out by the court on whatever the date was.

OP - have you actually spoken to the court about this?  Some County Courts would allow you to write a letter to be put before the District Judge without a fee.

cinereus

ciderboy2009 said:

twhitehousescat said:

it would probably be cheaper to actually start a new claim

The problem with doing this is that the defendant could just file a defence stating that the cause of action is exactly the same as that in case number XXXXXX which was struck out by the court on whatever the date was.

OP - have you actually spoken to the court about this?  Some County Courts would allow you to write a letter to be put before the District Judge without a fee.

Really?! I have never heard of this. They didn't seem to say so.