Civil Court Procedure Model Answer

• There are many things which would happen before a trial took place for a claim in the civil courts. Firstly, it is strongly urged by the Woolfe Reforms, that the parties are encouraged to attempt to reconcile the issue via alternative dispute resolution. This is could be in the form of negotiation, mediation, conciliation, arbitration or a tribunal. If the parties can’t reach a decision then it is recommended that they seek legal advice. If the claimant consults a solicitor then they will be advised upon whether they have a case and to assess whether the defendant has the finances to pay if the claim is successful, if not then it would be pointless taking the case to court.
• Following this, if the claimant wishes to proceed with the case the pre action protocols will follow which involves the sharing of information between the parties usually in letter form explaining brief details of how the claim arises, why it is claimed that the other party is at fault, details of injury or other damage and any other relevant matters. A person with a PI claim must send a Letter of Claim to the potential defendant, with medical evidence supporting it and give them 3 months to respond and try and settle the claim. A person with a non-PI claim will send a Letter of Claim giving the potential defendant 14 days. If the parties do not give the required information to the other party they may be liable for certain costs. This will lead to many cases being settled.
• However, some cases may still need to go to court. A claim form must be filled out by the claimant (N1 form) and taken to the court office where a court fee will be paid. It is advised the claimant photocopies it so they can retain a copy for their records. The court will then serve the claim form, usually by posting it to the defendant.
• When the defendant receives the claim, he has three options. (1) He can admit the claim and pay it together with the issue costs (2) He can ignore the claim and default judgement will be made against him (3) he can dispute the claim and send either an acknowledgement of service (N9 form) to get an extra 14 days to file a defence or file a defence at court or (4) finally, the defendant may wish to make a counter-claim whereby they wish to make a claim against the claimant.
• Once a claim is defended, an allocation questionnaire will be sent to both parties to enable the court to allocate the case to the most suitable ‘track’ and where state where the claim is initially heard. For claims £100,000 or less, or personal injury claims £50,000 or less the case will commence in the County Court. Claims that are over £100,000 or personal injury over £50,000 will commence in the High Court.
• A claim will be allocated to the small claims track (heard in the County Court by a District Judge) if it is worth less than £10,000 (or £1500 for personal injury), the fast track (County Court by a Circuit Judge), if it is between £10,000 and £25,000 (over £1,500 for personal injury), the Intermediate track if it is between £25,000 and £100,000 (County Court by a Circuit Judge) or the multi-track if it is over £100,000 (King’s Bench Division of the High Court by a High Court/Puisne judge).
• As part of case management, a judge will then be given the case to manage throughout and will fix the timetables and decide which issues need investigation for the trial. The purpose of litigation is for the dispute to be resolved at trial by a Judge who will decide whether the defendant is liable or not