Payment of court costs- what is the procedure?

CFWJOB

I recently successfully myself in person in the small claims track.  The judge struck out the claim and awarded costs against the claimant as he had been unreasonable in bringing the case.  I've received the written judgement which states that the claim is struck out and £x is payable by last week, but no explanation about how this is meant to be arranged. I've not received any payment and I'm not sure what to do next.

Is the claimant meant to contact me directly to make payment?  Or does he pay the costs to the court and then the court sends it on? It's not a large amount, but it's an important principle and I would like to know how I should chase this up. Neither the claimant not the court has my bank details and I am assuming they probably don't use cheques!

Can anyone advise?

Many thanks!

DullGreyGuy

In most cases they will pay it to you directly... there are circumstances where its paid to the court but thats more in connection with Part 36 offers or where the party's stance is that they'd already offered to pay before the litigation

Bradden

DullGreyGuy said:

In most cases they will pay it to you directly... there are circumstances where its paid to the court but thats more in connection with Part 36 offers or where the party's stance is that they'd already offered to pay before the litigation

I've had a similar issue. My solicitor has advised I instruct  high court bailiffs as the claimant has not paid.

CFWJOB

Update- the claimant has not paid and he says he's appealing the judge's decision.  We've not heard anything from the court so we don't know for sure that he has lodged an appeal or even whether his appeal will be permitted.

Can I assume that the court order to pay costs still stands, whatever he says or does about an appeal? Otherwise, I assume everyone would automatically appeal just to string out the whole process and delay paying out on court orders for another 6 months!

Jenni_D

Did the judge grant leave to appeal? (Or rather, was it specifically disallowed?)

Appeals in the County Court can only be made where the appellant believes that the judge has erred in law - they can't simply appeal because they disagree with the decision.

I don't know, but I believe lodging an appeal doesn't absolve the losing party from paying costs in a timely manner ... if they are successful in their appeal then the case resets, and if they subsequently win then any costs already borne can be added to the claim.

CFWJOB

Jenni_D said:

Did the judge grant leave to appeal? (Or rather, was it specifically disallowed?)

Appeals in the County Court can only be made where the appellant believes that the judge has erred in law - they can't simply appeal because they disagree with the decision.

I don't know, but I believe lodging an appeal doesn't absolve the losing party from paying costs in a timely manner ... if they are successful in their appeal then the case resets, and if they subsequently win then any costs already borne can be added to the claim.

The claimant didn't appeal at the hearing. He says he has since submitted an appeal, but I assume that the judge first has to decide whether or not to allow this. If the judge denies permission, I don't know whether the defendant necessarily gets informed.

I am assuming that the judgement stands and if the case resets, then the costs award goes back into the claim. But I'd quite like to be confident of my position before I go back to the claimant to chase him for payment.

CFWJOB

Another update in this long-running saga! 

We've now received a notice of appeal in which the claimant states that he doesn't need permission to appeal. We think he does need permission.  As far as I can see, he doesn't qualify for any of the exemptions which are published on the form.  So presumably someone at the Court will eventually see that there is no grant of permission in place and then they will tell him to put in an application.  Or they will tell him his application won't be granted and that's the end of it.

The grounds for appeal are all about procedure and the technical status of the hearing.  But the essential issue is that the claim was struck out because it was out of time and the appeal will not change this basic fact.