2. Commencing and Responding to a Claim Flashcards
What value civil dispute claims are dealt with by the County Court?
£100,000 or less
What value civil claims have the option to be dealt with by the High Court?
£100,000 or more
What value personal injury claims can be dealt with in the High Court?
£50,000
What are the three main divisions of the High Court?
Kings Bench Division
Chancery Division
Family Division
What types of claims does the Kings Bench Division deal with?
Action in contract or tort
What types of claims does the Chancery Division deal with?
Disputes over land, trusts, contentious inheritance matters, partnership claims and company law
What types of claim does the Technology and Construction Court of the High Court deal with?
Complex national and international claims concerning buildings, engineering and surveying
If the defendant is a partnership, what name should they be sued under?
Name of the partnership NOT the individual partners
If the defendant is a partnership, what suffix should be used on the claim form after the partnership name?
(a firm)
What form is used for opening a file?
N1
For unspecified claims in the High Court, what information does the claimant need to write on the claim form for statement of value?
Claimant expects to recover more than £100,000
For unspecified claims in the County Court, what information does the claimant need to write on the claim form for statement of value?
Whether they expect to cover not more than £10,000
More than £10,000 but less than £25,000
More than £25,00
For personal injury claims, what information does the claimant need to write on the claim form for statement of value?
Whether claimant expects to recover more than £5,000
What is the maximum court fee payable on issue?
£10,000
How are legal representative costs assessed for specified claims?
Fixed under Part 45 CPR
How are legal representative costs assessed for unspecified claims?
By court at the conclusion
If the claimant is a company, who from the company can sign the statement of truth?
A person with a senior position in the company such as a director, secretary, chief executive or the treasurer
Can the legal representative sign the statement of truth?
Yes - in their own name, not the firm’s
If the claim form has not been served, is permission required to add, substitute or remove a party from a claim?
No
If a claim form has been served and the application was made within the limitation period, what is the legal test the judge will use whether considering adding/ substituting/ removing a party?
Yes - legal test is if it is desirable for the case
In what circumstances would the judge consider adding/ substituting/ removing a party from proceedings where the application was made outside the limitation period?
- Original party was named by mistake
- Original party has died/ subject to bankruptcy order and their interest or liability has passed to new party
- Claim cannot properly be carried on without the new party
Generally, who must service of the claim form occur on?
Party’s nominated solicitor
Is service by email valid?
Only if receiving party has expressly confirmed that this method may be used for service or included an email address in a statement of case EXPRESSLY for the purpose of service of proceedings
Email just included in header of letter DOES NOT warrant express confirmation of service by email being accepted
How long following issuing of a claim form does the claimant have to serve it on the defendant?
4 months
When is a claim form deemed to be served?
Second business day following delivery
If other documents relating to the claim are delivered by personal service, fax or email, when are they deemed served?
Same day, or following business day if after 4.30pm
If other documents relating to the claim are delivered by first class post or document exchange when are they deemed served?
Second business day after posted
Within how many days after the claim form does the particulars of claim need to be served?
14 days
If a claim is being served out of the jurisdiction, how long does the claimant have to serve the claim form following issue?
6 months
If a defendant makes an admission of part, how long does the claimant have in which to respond?
14 days
If the defendant sends an acknowledgement of service, how long do they then have to file a defence?
28 days
When must a counterclaim be submitted?
Before or with the defence (and no permission of court needed)
Or after (but only with permission of the court)
When can the claimant apply for a default judgment?
The day after which acknowledgement of service/ defence should have been filed by the defendant
What is the mandatory ground for setting aside a default judgment?
The default judgement was wrongly entered
What are the discretionary grounds for setting aside a default judgment?
- The claimant has a real prospect of successfully defending the claim, OR
- There is some other good reason why the defendant should be allowed to defend the claim
Court will also consider promptness of application therefore defendant should issue application as soon as they are aware of the default judgment
NOTE that the court will consider the application as a relief from a sanction and therefore apply the test from Denton v White
What is the test from Denton v White?
- Identify and assess seriousness / significance of relevant failure
- Consider why failure or default occurred
- Evaluate all the circumstances of the case to enable court to deal justly with the application
If a default judgement is set aside for mandatory grounds, who is liable for the costs in the default judgment application?
The claimant
If a default judgement is set aside for discretionary grounds due to good reason for default, who is liable for the costs in the default judgment application?
Costs are included in the case
If a default judgement is set aside for discretionary grounds due real prospect of success for the defendant, who is liable for the costs in the default judgment application?
The defendant is liable for the claimant’s costs
When is the costs order regarding default judgements made?
Conclusion of application to set aside default judgment hearing
Can a claimant discontinue the claim at any stage without permission?
Yes unless any interim reliefs have been granted
If a claimant has been granted an interim payment, can they discontinue the claim?
No, only with permission from defendant or court
What is a consent order?
Where both parties have legal representation and have reached a settlement after issuing of proceedings (but before trial), then a document can be drawn up by the representation and sealed by a court officer to enable enforcement of anything agreed should it not be honoured
What is a Tomlin order?
A document which stays the claim on agreed terms set out either in a schedule to the order or separately
If a party wished to keep agreed terms confidential then where should they be included?
In a schedule to the Tomlin order or in a separate document
What kinds of information would be included in a Tomlin order?
Agreed payment and schedules (to be kept confidential)
What kind of term would be included within the Tomlin order itself?
A term giving each party liberty to apply to court if the other party does not comply with the settlement terms - must be set out in the order itself in order to be effective
If costs are to be agreed by the courts, what is required?
A court order
If a defendant wish to contest the court’s jurisdiction for the claim, how do they do this?
They indicate this on the acknowledgement of service, and then within 14 days apply to dispute the court’s jurisdiction
NOTE that filing a defence / failing to apply to dispute within timeframe is treated as accepting the court’s jurisdiction
