2- Legal system: Civil Courts

Question 1

What do civil courts do and what is their hierarchy?

Answer 1

1. Mag court:
   - minor straightforward family matters such as access to children
   - minor civil issues such as non-payment or bills
   - appeal against licensing decisions (bars, clubs)
2. County Court (approx. 216 in country):
   - Straightforward cases involving negligence, contract and consumer disputes.
   - Family matters such as divorce, custody and adoption cases
3. High Court (26 in country):
   - QBD: - high value claims for negligence and contract law
   - Admiralty Court (shipping law)
   - FAMILY DIV: - Complex, high value divorce, complex adoption and custody cases.
   - Ethical cases about medical treatment, abortion, consent
   - CHANCERY DIV: - Deals with mortgages- land law
   - Tax disputes
   - Copyright and patent
4. Court of Appeal (Civ Div):
   - Hears appeals from County and High Courts
5. SC
   - Hears appeals from CofA and Leapfrog appeals from the High Court
   - In London

Question 2

What is using a method to solve a dispute other than going to court called?

Answer 2

Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)

Vast majority of cases are settled and do not go to court

Question 3

What are the 2 parties involved in civil cases called?

Answer 3

Person bringing the claim: Claimant

Person receiving the claim: Defendant

Question 4

What is the civil court process?

Answer 4

1. Before starting the claim, there is a pre-action protocol that must be followed
2. Knowing the court where the case will be heard
3. Issuing a claim
4. Defending a claim

Question 5

What are pre-action protocols?

Answer 5

Procedures that encourage parties to give info to each other to prevent the claim from going to court.

Question 6

What happens if parties don’t follow pre-action protocols?

Answer 6

Pre-action protocols must be followed, and if parties refuse to, they might be liable for certain costs.

Question 7

What happens after the pre-action protocol?

Answer 7

If the other party denies liability and refuses to use ADR a court case will have to be started.

Question 8

What court should be used for a civil claim?

Answer 8

Depends on the amount claimed

• Claim for £10,000 or less and £1,000 for personal injury cases
  - Small claims track
• Claim for £100,000 or less and £50,000 or less for personal injury cases
  - County Court
• Claim for over £100,000 and over £50,000 for personal injury cases
  - County Court or High Court

If using County Court, claim can be started in any of the 200+ courts in the country.

If using High Court, any of the High Courts, including the main one in London can be used.

Question 9

How is a claim issued?

Answer 9

Claimant needs a claim form called N1 and need to fill it in a court office.

Appropriate court fee has to be paid depending on claim.

• Up to £300- £35 paper form fee and £25 online form.
• £100,000-£200,000- 5% of claim and no online form fee
• • 200,000- £10,000 paper form fee and no online form fee

Question 10

How can a defendant defend a claim?

Answer 10

D has 3 options:

1. Admit the claim and pay in full
2. • Send defence to court within 14 DAYS of receiving the claim or
   • Dispute claim and send an ‘acknowledgement of service’ (Form N9: used to tell court you need 28 days rather than 14 to prepare a defence)
3. If these 2 don’t happen claimant can request that the court make an order that D pays the money in full + costs (lawyers…)

Once a claim is defended court will allocate case to most suitable track

Question 11

What are the 3 tracks?

Answer 11

1. Small claims track
2. Fast track
3. Multi track

Question 12

How is the track to which a case is allocated decided?

Answer 12

1. Small claims track- under £10,000 and £1000 for personal injury cases- there are proposals to increase this number to £5000
2. Fast track- straightforward disputes between £10,000 to £25,000
3. Multi-track- Over £25,000 of complex cases under this amount

Question 13

What characterises the small claims track?

Answer 13

Usually heard in private

District judges can be flexible in how they hear case, trained to take an active part in proceedings, asking questions and making sure both parties explain all the important points.

Parties encouraged to represent themselves (they cannot claim the cost of a lawyer from the other side, even if they win the case)

Question 14

What characterises the fast track?

Answer 14

1. Court wills set down a very strict timetable for pre-trial matters to prevent each party having unnecessary costs
2. Once case is set down for hearing, aim is to have the case heard within 30 weeks- in practise it is nearer to 50 weeks
3. Trial usually heard by a Circuit Judge in an open court with a more formal procedure.

Question 15

What characterises multi track cases?

Answer 15

Judge expected to manage case by:

1. Identifying main issues at an early stage
2. Encouraging main parties to use ADR id possible#
3. Dealing with procedural steps without expecting parties to attend court
4. Fixing timetables by which different stages can be reached

Question 16

How was the old system before the introduction of the three tracks?

Answer 16

• Expensive, costs often exceeded value of the claim
• Slow to conclude cases
• Litigants used to control cases
• Delay tactics were used bc system was too adversarial
• Some chose not to follow rules and procedures but there was no way of punishing them

Question 17

Who was Lord Woolf?

Answer 17

Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales 2000-2005- introduced reforms including 3 track system in 1999

Question 18

What did Lord Woolf want the justice system to be?

Answer 18

1. Just in the results delivered
2. Fair in the way it treated litigants (claimant- defendant)
3. Offer appropriate proceedings at a reasonable cost
4. Deal with cases at reasonable speed
5. Understandable to those who used it

Question 19

What were Lord Woolf’s reforms?

Answer 19

1. Documents and proceedings were simplified
2. Single set of rules for County and High Courts
3. More cooperation between party’s lawyers
4. Reduction in delays between issuing the claim and court hearing
5. More claims settled before reaching the court
6. Introduced 3 track system

Question 20

What are the problems that were not solved by Lord Woolf’s reforms?

Answer 20

1. ADR not used enough
2. Costs of cases continue to increase
3. Courts still under resourced- in particular IT systems

Question 21

Who is Lord Briggs?

Answer 21

Justice of the SC- he reviewed the civil justice system in 2016

Question 22

What did Lord Briggs recommend?

Answer 22

1. That there should be an out-of-hours private mediation service in County Court and
2. that an Online Court should be set up for claims up to £25,000

Question 23

What would be the 3 stages to the process of establishing an online court?

Answer 23

1. Automated interactive online process to identify issues and provide evidence
2. Conciliation and case management carried out by case managers
3. If not resolved at stage 2 a judge would resolve the issue using documents on the screen, phone, video or face to face meetings.

Question 24

What are the appeal routes for Civil Cases?

Answer 24

Different appeal routes depending on level of judge and appeal route used:

Case heard by District Judge- appeal to County Court with case heard by a Circuit Judge- further appeal to CofA civil div.

Case heard by Circuit Judge- appeal to High Court with case heard by a High Court Judge- further appeal to CofA civil div.

Question 25

When are further or second appeals possible?

Answer 25

Only allowed in exceptional cases set out in Access to Justice Act 1999: no appeal should be made unless CofA considers that:

 - appeal would raise an important point of law
 - there is other compelling reason for CofA to hear it

Question 26

How do appeals from the High Court work?

Answer 26

Appeals usually to CofA civ. div.

In rare cases there may be a ‘leapfrog appeal’ direct to the SC.

Question 27

What must an appeal involve for a leapfrog appeal to be possible?

Answer 27

Since 2015 it must involve:

 - an issue of national importance
 - raise issues of sufficient importance to justify a leapfrog appeal.

SC must grant leave to appeal.

Question 28

Is it possible to appeal to the SC after an appeal to the CofA?

Answer 28

It is possible but SC must give leave to appeal.

Question 29

What are the advantages of using the courts to resolve disputes?

Answer 29

1. Fair process and impartial judge
2. Trial conducted by legal expert and judge is an experienced lawyer
3. Decision can be enforced
4. Appeals process exists
5. May be possible to get legal aid

Question 30

What are the disadvantages of using the courts to resolve disputes?

Answer 30

1. High cost- High Court case can cost up to £100,000 and small claims track can cost more than the claim
2. Delay. Many preliminary stages and then usually a year before case goes to court
3. Complicated process for non legal people
4. Uncertainty of the outcome. Loser may have to pay.

Question 31

How are appeals to the CofA managed?

Answer 31

Generally heard by 3-5 judges, there are 37 in total (Lord Justices of Appeal)

Most senior judge called Master of the Rolls

Appeal is not a rehearing of trial but a review of the case

Barristers in CofA hearings must provide in advance a concise statement known as skeleton arguments of their arguments to the court and opposing barrister.

This saves time and cost to all parties.

Question 32

What are the advantages of using the small claims track?

Answer 32

1. Cost is low, especially for claims under 1000
2. If you lose, don’t have to pay other side’s legal costs
3. Can represent themselves, saves money
4. Procedure quicker than other tracks
5. District judge will help both parties to explain the case

Question 33

What are the disadvantages of using the small claims track?

Answer 33

1. Legal aid not available
2. When other side is a business, they are most likely to use a lawyer, leaving the claimant at a disadvantage
3. Research has shown that District judges are not always helpful to unrepresented claimants
4. Only about 60% claimants receive all the money awarded by the court.