Small claims appeal process

Confusedandbemused

We have been pursuing 2 small claims against 2 different contractors (builder and renderer) for entirely different although connected issues. We submitted the claims in November and December 2023 through the online money claims process. We are not represented so were very careful to ensure our claims could be allocated to the small claims track. We reduced the value of the larger of the two claims to keep it under the  £10k threshold although he actually owes us another £2k approx.

At a directions hearing last week which we understood had been arranged to discuss the next steps we found out that the Court has lost our claim file against the contractor who is most at fault (nearly 800 pages of documents). So the judge had nothing in relation to that claim in front of her during the hearing except the defendant’s documents.

The judge did have had our claim file relevant to the other contractor but it became apparent at the beginning of the hearing that the Court must have tampered with it because a key document had been stapled and mis-collated. Although we could prove that the file had been in perfect order when we submitted it we were not given the opportunity to do so, the judge would not listen to us. She just blamed us for the confusion and became increasingly hostile towards us. 

Even though she didn’t have most of our documents and was confused about what she did have, the judge decided to consolidate our claims and move them to the fast track because added together their value exceeded the small claims limit. We were not given the opportunity to consider the implications of her decision or raise any objections at the hearing. 

We wish to appeal the decision because the fast track process would put pressure on us (and the defendants) to seek legal representation which would cost £000s. It is disadvantageous to us in particular not least of all because my partner, the plaintiff, will no longer be allowed to have me as his lay representative according to the judge. (He has dyslexia and cannot read or process written information quickly enough to cope under pressure in Court. He did not declare it because he does not want the defendants to know). Moreover, we would not have reduced the value of the larger of the two claims if we had known they would be consolidated and moved to the fast track.

We understand the judge could have joined the cases instead of consolidating them so that they were heard by the same judge on the same day but could remain in the small claims track (with me as my partner’s lay representative) but she did not consider it. 

Starting again from scratch with a new claim that includes me as joint claimant against both contractors and submitting all the documents again in a single file would be preferable to continuing with the current claims in the fast track process in my partner’s sole name and trying to deal with the consequences of the Court having lost one of our claim files and done who knows what with the documents in the other file.  

There are different appeals forms depending on whether it is a small claim or in the fast track process. The Court officials have advised us to use the fast track appeal form because the decision at the hearing was to move our claims to the fast track. We have queried this because at the beginning of the hearing the claims were still in the small claims process and it is the decision to move them to the fast track that will be the subject of our appeal. The Court has sent us the small claims appeal form but say it is a legal not a procedural matter which form we should use, they cannot advise. 

The small claims appeal form states that the Hearing decision notice/order has to be submitted with it otherwise the appeal won’t be allowed. But we have not received the decision notice and the Court has informed us that it will not be produced until after the deadline for us to submit the appeal has elapsed.

Does anyone know which appeal form we should use? If it’s the small claims appeal form how do we address the issue that we have not received the decision notice? The rule does not seem to be so strict in the fast track appeal form and seems to allow for the decision notice to be submitted at a later stage.

Any other comments/advice would be welcome, We’re desperate not to make any mistakes. The hearing was a horrible experience. 

DullGreyGuy

There are no set rules of what goes to Small Track and what goes to Fast Track, the £10,000 for non-injuries is simply a guideline but the judge has discretion to move things up or down depending on if they feel its more or less complex than the £10k demarkation would normally represent. 

I've never heard of the ability to appeal the directions hearing itself, appeal processes are normally to change a court order. Dont even know if it's possible to. Do you have any form of legal advice like with your Home insurance or if you are a member of a union?

I'd also drop the "tampered with" accusation against the court... that would suggest there was some intent of malice against you rather than just operational mistake.

Confusedandbemused

Good advice, thank you. It’s better to avoid inflammatory language of course, I’m just so angry about the injustice of it all.

Our appeal is against the order arising from the hearing. We don’t know exactly what’s in it. The Court says it won’t be issued until after the deadline for us to submit the appeal.
The judge wanted to prevent us from using our expert reports in one claim although a previous Court order had required us to serve them on the defendant (which we had) and gave the defendant 7 days to seek the expert’s attendance at Court (which he didn’t). The judge didn’t make her final decision clear in the hearing so we will need to include it in our appeal just in case. 

The decision she definitely made which we wish to appeal was to consolidate our claims and move them to fast track. It creates all kinds of difficulties for us. The judge didn’t consider the alternative of joining the claims so they’re heard by the same judge on the same day but remain separate so continue in the small claims track. This is what we will ask for in our appeal and the opportunity for us (and the defendants) to resubmit all our documents and any new evidence by a given date.
We will also apply for our claims to be transferred to a different Court (convenient for all parties) as the judge said files go missing all the time in the current Court and it could (and probably) would happen again if we resubmitted our file as hard copy (the only feasible method) because the Courts are in chaos. An astonishing admission.