Need help making a claim in the small claims court

surveyor

I want to make a claim in the small claims court against a McKenzie friend who gave me wrong advice and did not carry out the work I instructed him to do. But it is 'only' £700 so it will be difficult to hire a solicitor who will likely charge me that just to look at the papers. Can anybody, in the know, let me know if they can give me advice on this and help me prepare the form?
Thanks

Unknown

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steampowered

Moneyclaimonline is fairly self explanatory. Presumably the basis of your claim would be negligence?

This sounds like a very difficult claim to make:
- I'm not clear whether a McKenzie friend would owe you a duty of care? Potentially, if they were remunerated?
- McKenzie friends are not qualified, and you know that, so you can't hold them to the same standards as a solicitor.
- Generally McKenzie friends do no more than just support you in going to court, not give you legal advice.

lincroft1710

Did you pay for the MF's services?

DoaM

A MF is nothing more than someone who gives moral support and helps with paperwork in a court hearing - the defendant/claimant does all their own speaking. (A Lay Representative can speak on behalf of the D/C). I'm not sure what you think a McKenzie Friend is.

davidmcn

surveyor said:

I want to make a claim in the small claims court against a McKenzie friend who gave me wrong advice and did not carry out the work I instructed him to do. But it is 'only' £700 so it will be difficult to hire a solicitor who will likely charge me that just to look at the papers. Can anybody, in the know, let me know if they can give me advice on this and help me prepare the form?
Thanks

Even if we assume a McKenzie Friend owes you a suitable duty of care (I have no idea whether they do) and that in this case they've breached it - are you sure they owe you £700? I'm guessing that's the amount of the original claim, but you'd also need to show that, but for the alleged negligence, you'd (probably) have won the case and got payment from the other party.

surveyor

steampowered said:

Moneyclaimonline is fairly self explanatory. Presumably the basis of your claim would be negligence?

This sounds like a very difficult claim to make:
- I'm not clear whether a McKenzie friend would owe you a duty of care? Potentially, if they were remunerated?
- McKenzie friends are not qualified, and you know that, so you can't hold them to the same standards as a solicitor.
- Generally McKenzie friends do no more than just support you in going to court, not give you legal advice.

Exactly, I did not ask for legal advice. I was going to (did) take a barrister to court for that. The Mackenzie Friend had two tasks:
1- To help me put together the bundle for the barrister.
2- To help me prepare for the hearing (advice on how to out together my case, about cross examination, etc.)
The MF just spent the time arguing about how she wanted me to drop the case and go begging to the other side for concessions telling me he was sure I would lose. He told me that the next hearing would be the last and the judge would dismiss my claim. He kept adding chargeable hours to all his messages until there were some 2 hours left. He told me, OK I will do what you tell me but then he was going to charge me again. As it happened, the judge, in the next two hearings, gave all kinds of orders for experts, solicitors and other people to be brought into the case to write reports for the court and the case continues. The judge agreed about my concerns.
If I had followed the (unrequested) advice by the MF and dropped the case, I would not have got all the things that the judge ordered and I would be 'in the street' with no chance of pursuing my claim.

surveyor

lincroft1710 said:

Did you pay for the MF's services?

Yes, that was another naughty thing, he asked me to pay for it all in advance.

surveyor

DoaM said:

A MF is nothing more than someone who gives moral support and helps with paperwork in a court hearing - the defendant/claimant does all their own speaking. (A Lay Representative can speak on behalf of the D/C). I'm not sure what you think as.

I know exactly what a McKenzie friend does. I have used them before. So do not make assumptions.
And I am sure that you would agree that, if I had told this one that I wanted him to do things outside his capabilities, he would should not have taking the money and told me he could not do it.

surveyor

davidmcn said:

surveyor said:

I want to make a claim in the small claims court against a McKenzie friend who gave me wrong advice and did not carry out the work I instructed him to do. But it is 'only' £700 so it will be difficult to hire a solicitor who will likely charge me that just to look at the papers. Can anybody, in the know, let me know if they can give me advice on this and help me prepare the form?
Thanks

Even if we assume a McKenzie Friend owes you a suitable duty of care (I have no idea whether they do) and that in this case they've breached it - are you sure they owe you £700? I'm guessing that's the amount of the original claim, but you'd also need to show that, but for the alleged negligence, you'd (probably) have won the case and got payment from the other party.

No, what happened was that I had to go to a solicitor and pay the £700 and more to do the job as I was running out of time.

stragglebod

So your gripe is that someone who isn't a qualified lawyer and who didn't hold themselves out to be one didn't provide the same level of legal services as an actual lawyer? Good luck with that.