Small Claims
and the Small Claims Court
- the costs of issuing the claim and any court fees which have been paid, such as the allocation questionnaire fee;
- if the case includes a claim for an injunction or specific performance, an amount for legal advice and assistance to a maximum of £260;
- any order for costs made before the claim was allocated to the small claims
Other expenses incurred by a party or witness may be recovered but these will be at the discretion of the judge
- travel expenses of witnesses or the party, including the costs of overnight accommodation, if needed. No limit is placed on these costs;
- an amount for loss of earnings incurred by a witness or party due to attending the hearing, limited to £50 per day per person;
- if the court has given permission in advance for a party to use expert evidence, a maximum of £200 per expert may be recovered from the losing party to cover the expert’s
If a small claims case proceeds to an appeal, the appeal court may summarily assess the costs of the appeal. The costs of an appeal are not subject to the usual small claims limitations.
The exception to this general rule is when your opponent has behaved unreasonably in their conduct of the litigation. This will be entirely at the discretion of the judge and is not easy to prove.
A small claim can be started by either completing and filing Form N1 with the Bulk Issue Claims Centre in Salford or issuing the claim online through the Court Service Money Claim Online There will be a court fee, to pay which is based on the amount claimed. A fee exemption or remission may be available, if you are of limited means or receiving certain benefits.
Under Rule 13.2 of the Civil Procedure Rules 1998, the court must set aside a default judgement that was wrongly entered before the defendant’s deadline for filing an acknowledgement of service or a defence expired. The court is also obliged to set aside a default judgement, entered after the claim had been paid in full.
Under Rule 13.3 (1), the court can use its discretion to set aside or vary a default judgement if the applicant can show that:
- they have a real prospect of successfully defending the claim; or
- it appears to the court that there is some other good reason why the judgement should be set aside or varied and the defendant should be allowed to defend the
Taking a claim to court should always be the last resort, and taken only when all other attempts at resolving the dispute have failed and not be brought if there is any other possible alternative. There are usually better ways of resolving a dispute, which will be quicker and easier than the court, and likely to bring a better result.
Small claims cases may be easier, cheaper and quicker to deal with than other sorts of civil cases. But there can never be a guarantee that you will win. As any lawyer will tell you, there can never be any certainty with litigation. Exhaust every other possibility before going to court. Write to the other side, try to talk to them, see if they will agree to try mediation – do whatever can be done to resolve the problem, and only then take it to court.
If you are going to use the court you must be organised. Cases are won through careful preparation and good presentation. Although many of the court rules are relaxed for small claims, there are still court rules which must be complied with, and orders and time limits to obey. If you go about your claim or defence in a half-cocked fashion, you are not likely to succeed. These are still court proceedings just as much as a multi-million pound action in the High Court. If you are going to use the court you must be prepared to play by their rules.
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