The Courts System - Civil Litigation in Blackpool

The purpose of Civil Litigation is to provide compensation in the form of damages when someone has been wronged by his or her opponent and has suffered financial loss. The Court can also order one of the parties to do something it should or to stop doing something it shouldn’t (an “injunction”). Less often the Court will be asked to make a declaration as to someone’s rights. Most cases are brought in the County Court but (rarely these days) some more complex cases involving larger amounts of money are brought in the High Court. Following a review of the way the courts worked by Lord Woolf new Civil Procedure Rules were brought into force in 1998. The objective was to reduce the high cost of civil litigation and to eradicate the delays from the system. To do this all cases were to be divided into three “Tracks” :

The Small Claims Track.
Claims up to £5,000-00
Personal Injury clams up to £1,000-00
Tenant’s repairs claims against the Landlord up to £1,000-00

The Fast Track.
Claims between £5,000-00 and £15,000-00 whose trials were likely to last for no more than 1 day.

The Multi Track.
These usually cover claims for over £15,000-00.
Some complex claims of more than £50,000-00 are dealt with in the High Court. The Costs allowed for each of these tracks are higher the higher up the Tracks your claim is placed.

The Cost of Litigation.
The Costs of the claim which include the Solicitor’s and Barrister’s fees, the fees of any expert witnesses and the Court’s fees are normally ordered to be paid by the loser. However in the Small Claims Track different rules are now applied. You usually have to pay most of your costs win or lose. Costs which the court could order to be paid by the loser would normally be limited to :-· The court fee for issue of the claim form of between £50 and £120 depending upon the size of the claim
Solicitor’s costs of drafting the claim form between £50 and £80 depending upon the size of the claim
Expert’s report fee of a maximum of £200 for each report
Travel expenses to court of any witness or party and accommodation costs where necessary
Loss of earnings due to attending court by any witness or party are reimbursed upto a maximum of £50 per day per witness/party

Normally it is not cost effective for you to employ us to deal with cases in the Small Claims Track although sometimes we can sit in the background, draft documents and witness statements and advise on procedure. You attend the court to explain the case to the District Judge. Our charges are thereby limited to only the time we spend on the case which can greatly reduce your cost. We are always willing to co-operate wth you to minimise the expense of litigation.

In the Fast Track the court can and mostly does order the loser to pay the costs of the winner. These are limited but to figures that are higher than in the Small Claims Track. Nevertheless the cost of a Fast Track case which has to be paid by the loser can often reach several thousand pounds and sometimes reaches 5 figures.

In Multi Track cases the only limit put on the cost by the court is what is reasonable and necessary.

In all cases the Judge regulates how much a Solicitor or Barrister can charge with certain exceptions where the fees are fixed by the Court Rules.

It is our firm belief and policy to warn you if there is a substantial risk of losing a case and to advise and assist you to reach a settlement. It is not our practice to encourage clients to litigate at great expense without first advising you of the dangers and risks.

The Court’s Case Types

The County Court has the most involvement in the life of the average person. It deals with Divorce and financial settlements; Bankruptcies; Recovery of Debt; Personal Injury claims; Mortgage and Landlord’s possessions Claims; Partnership Dissolutions and winding up of limited companies.

Our partner in charge of this work is Neil Jones who was appointed to be a Deputy District Judge on the Northern Circuit in 1997 and has been sitting as a part time Judge and hearing cases in all these categories for the last 8 years. Neil has a wealth of experience in The Courts System and Civil Litigation and is well able to advise and assist you from our Blackpool office.

Neil Jones - nrj@johnbudd.net

property - conveyancing, house sales and purchases, buying and leasing of business premises

litigation - accident and personal injury - "no win no fee". John Budd have a national reputation for their expertise in criminal, professional, medical and civil negligence cases.

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John Budd
Phoenix House
281 Church St
Blackpool
FY1 3PG

t: 01253 623557
f  01253 751005


dx: 741603 blackpool 6

No Win - No Fee
what you need to know

Small Claims in the County Court
a "how to" guide

Residential Short Hold Tenancies
FAQ for Landlords

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