county court can try civilclaims of up to £100,000 in value. cases heard include:
negligenceclaims- person suffersinjury or loss as a result of the action or failure of another.
tort based claims such as nuisance or trespassing
debtclaims and consumers which generally involve a breach of contract.
housingclaims
individualsseekingcompensation for injuries
Judges in the county court??
claims will be heard in opencourt by a singlejudge.
usually a circuitjudge or recorder.
if case is offlowvalue, it is heard by a districtjudge.
Jurisdiction of the queens bench division court??
has jurisdiction to hear variety of cases including contract and tortclaims over £100,000 in value and smallerclaims where there is a complicatedissue of lawinvolves
specialistcourtwithin the queensbench division:
The Administrativecourt which hears: applications for judicialreview and applications for habeas corpus.
casestatedappeals in criminalcasesdecided at the magistratescourt or crowncourt.
Jurisdiction of the chancery division?
deals with:
disputesrelating to business, property or land over £100,000 is in issue.
disputes over trust
contentiousprobateclaims
disputes about partnershipmatters
Jurisdiction of the family division?
has jurisdiction over:
cases where a child is tobemade a ward of the court and cases relating to the welfare of childrenunder the childrenAct1989
appeals from lowercourts such as familyproceedingscourts, which are part of the magistratescourt and complicatedfamilycasestransferred from the countycourt.
cases with a foreignelement such as internationalchildabduction and forced marriage._
disputes under hagueconvention. _
most family cases now dealt with in a separatefamilycourt under crime and courts act 2013
the fast track?
involvesclaims of nomore than £100,000. The trackestablishes a strict t timetable for pre-trailmatters to ensure there is no time waiting. it deals with higher-value claims in a more formalsettings and held in opencourts.
The hearing will be a maximum of oneday in opencourt, with a limitednumber of witnesses called and usually heard by a CircuitJudge.
Each of the parties can be represented by a lawyer.
The multi track?
involves claims of more than £100,000 since it involves the mostnoney, it will be heard by a seniorjudge, thus making it the mostformal out of all. it is urgedthat the judge has a "handson" approach to its casemanagement._
- Usually allocated to the CountyCourt. The hearing will take place before a CircuitJudge.
-If the case involvescomplicatedpoints of law or evidence, or it involves more than £50,000 in value, it can be passed up to the HighCourt.
Small claims?
An informalcourtproceeding for disputes over amounts of $5,000 or 4) « less, or $10,000 or less for individuals. the procedure allows the districtjudge to be flexible in the he or she hears the case.
-The claim will be heard by a District Judge and lawyers are not encouraged.
Appeals from the county court???
if the case was heard by a DistrictJudge, then the appeal is to a CircuitJudge in the sameCountyCourt
if the case was heard by a CircuitJudge, then the appeal is to a HighCourtJudge.
An appeal can be madedirectly to the court of Appeal if the caseraises an importantpoint of principle and the court of appealagrees to hear it.
Appeals from the high court??
appeal usually goes to the Court of Appeal (Civil Division) leapfrog'appeal direct to the supremecourt under the Administration of justiceAct1999.
'leapfrog' only happens if their is an issue of nationalimportance or raiseissues of significantimportance E.g statutoryinterperation or bindingprecedent
s55access to justiceAct1999 - cannot make appeal to CoA unless the appeal would raise an importantpoint of principle or practise or some other compellingreason for the CoA to hear it.
Pre-action protocol??
letter of claim - sets out why D’s at fault, nature of injury_
D has 3months to inestigate and admit liability or explain to Cwhyliability is denied._
parties agree on expert witness if required
what is the aim of pre-action protocol??
to ensure that as many problems as possible can be resolvedwithout the need for a courthearing.
issuing a court claim if settlement cannot be reached. Courts used depends on the amount of compensation claimed.
less than £10,000 or £1000 in a personalinjuryclaims = started in smallclaims
less than £100,000 or £50,000 in a personalinjury claim = must start in county court
more than £100,000 or more than £50,000 in a personalinjuryclaim = can either start countycourt or morelikelyhighcourt
issuing a claim?
a claimformN1 has to be completed with the names and address of the parties,briefdetails of the reason for the claim and the amount of money being claimed. This form can be filed at:
a countycourtoffice_
the highcourt if it a highvalueclaim
online, for a debtclaim
Defending a claim: The court send, or serve, the claim on the defendant who then has a choice of actions:
1Admit the claim and pay the fullamount to the claimant or the court. If this option is chosen, the case willend.
2 Admit the claim and pay in instalments. If this option is accepted by the claimant, the case will end when the fullamount has been paid.
3 Dispute the claim and file a defencesettingout why the claim should not be paid, either in full or part.
4 File an Acknowledgement of Serviceconfirmingreceipt of the claim form but asking for time to file a defence
Appeal to the tracks?
appeals from the multi-track are made to the court of appeal and could be made Supreme Court
Online courts?
-the civil justice councils report in 2015 proposed the creation of HM online court to allowjudges to decidedisputes up to 25,000 in valueonline in order to address the problems of a costly,slowcomplexsystem.
-also introduced the use of online facilitators to help parties resolveissuesprior to using the courtsystem.