Assaulted and property damaged - How to make a small claim

Fernendo321

Hi all

I was assaulted and my property was damaged. I was not injured physically. The perpetrator admitted the assault and it looks like he will get a community resolution.

I am thinking about bringing a civil claim. I don't know his legal name currently only his address and nickname.

The value of the property damage that I can prove is only about £70 or so (and that's pushing it)
He admitted the assault I'm not sure to what extent if any he will admit to the property damage.  There is another £300 worth of damage I can't prove.

I suffered stress, anxiety and depression from the incident which I am having ongoing treatment for. I work freelance so had a number of hours lost work dealing with this - calling the police, calling 101 or updates, going to the police station to make a statement etc.

Can I simply issue a small claim? I'm thinking maybe £300 to cover the property damage, stress, anxiety, depression (which I needed treatment for) and lost income but I don't really know what the "correct" figure to claim is. I don't want to make it too high or too low and accidentally harm my claim as a result.

I am recently self employed so calculating lost income is tricky as I don't charge an hourly rate.

How hard is a small claim for me to do myself? There certainly isn't enough money in it to get a solicitor involved so I must do it myself or get nothing. Obviously I want to recover the money lost but it's also about getting justice too so he doesn't simply get away with it.

Also should I be worried about being charged legal costs if a judge thinks my case has no merit?  I don't small claims don't usually get costs awarded unless your claim is deemed vexatious.

Thanks

p00hsticks

I may be wrong, but I think you can only use the small claims court to retrieve financial losses - you can't use it to claim financial compensation for things like stress, anxiety etc. 

Fernendo321

p00hsticks said:

I may be wrong, but I think you can only use the small claims court to retrieve financial losses - you can't use it to claim financial compensation for things like stress, anxiety etc. 

Yes I think you're right but if the incident stopped me working a bit maybe I can claim for that?

tacpot12

Fernendo321 said:

p00hsticks said:

I may be wrong, but I think you can only use the small claims court to retrieve financial losses - you can't use it to claim financial compensation for things like stress, anxiety etc. 

Yes I think you're right but if the incident stopped me working a bit maybe I can claim for that?

If you can prove you have lost the amount, you can claim this loss, but you are also required to try to minimise your loses, so you have to show that it was unavoidable that you couldn't work, and that you needed treatment for depression. Will your doctor write you a note that confirms that your depression was caused by the assault? Or will they mention that you have been depressed for a long time, and that the assault only made it worse? If it is difficult for a judge to pick out strength of the linkage between cause and effect, they may shy away from penalising the defendant; if you don't meet the standard of proof required, you won't win. 

I'm inclined to think a judge would regard the overhead of going to the Police as something that you would have considered when deciding whether to make the complaint in the first place, and phoneing for update should be fitted around your work, so I don't think you have a cast iron for all the costs associated with your work, but if you needed treatment for depression, then it would be reasonable for you to have take time off work for this. 

If the other perpetrator takes legal advice for a civil claim against them, the advice will be to admit nothing and make you prove what you have lost. If you can only prove that you have lost £70, it probably isn't worth it. If you can make a solid claim for lost wages based on the advice above, then this might make the case worth persuing. However, you can't be sure you will win, and will losing just make you feel worse?