INTRODUCTION
This is the procedural track in which the county court deals with small value cases. A claim for under £5,000 will usually be allocated to the Small Claims Track unless it is a personal injury claim. Then, it will only fall into that track if the value of the pain and suffering award is likely to be less than £1000. Although the hearing is now called a "trial" rather than an "arbitration" as it was under the old rules the procedures are still a lot more informal and hearings are usually in a private room and not an open court room. Formal rules of evidence do not apply. There is often no need for legal representation.
EASY SIMPLE PROCEDURES
Small Claims have different systems and procedures that are a lot easier and simpler than normal County court claims. This means that members of the public can have the confidence to go to court on a Small Claim and not get overwhelmed with the complicated and lengthy procedures that sometimes exist with a normal claim.
INFORMATION PAGES
We have a number of pages that are designed to guide you through a small claim in the county court. The main pages that we have that might be of assistance include the following:
- STARTING A CLAIM
- SERVICE AND DEFENCES
- JUDGEMENT IN DEFAULT
- SUMMARY JUDGEMENT
- HEARINGS
- ENFORCEMENT
- DUTIES TO THE COURT
- HINTS AND TIPS
These contain information on procedures and links to other parts of the site concerning court rules. Additionally the most used forms can be found here for completion on line or downloading.
RESPONSIBILITIES
Before you commence any court claim, we strongly recommend that you read our DUTIES TO THE COURT notes. Even in small claims, where costs are not usually recoverable from the losing opponent, unreasonable conduct putting the other side to expense or a breach of the court rules may lead to a costs order being made against you. This is particularly relevant to a summary judgment application as to which see below.
COSTS
Any person that goes to court has to deal with the case themselves or pay for their own legal costs win or lose. The Small Claims court usually does not order losing parties to pay their opponents legal costs unless there are exceptional circumstances. Usually if someone loses their case they will be ordered to pay the winners court fees and out of pocket expenses. These types of fees and expenses are usually only relatively small amounts. Therefore this gives a member of the public dealing with a case themselves a big advantage. This all means that someone can take a case to court and not face the risk of losing and paying a huge amount of legal costs. There are of course exceptions.
