Solicitors in Birmingham

What are the various tracks in the County Court ?

There are three case management tracks within the county court system and after a claim is made to the court and  a defence filed, the court will decide which track to allocate the case to. This is based first and foremost on the value of the claim, but other factors can come into play. The 3 tracks are :-

• Small claims track – for simple cases up to £5,000.
• Fast track –  cases between £5,000 to £25,000.
• Multi-track – used for complex cases and disputes over £25,000

What are the important basics to know about the small claims court ?

• Preparations  for hearing are not as complex as other tracks, but parties are expected to have exchanged relevant documents and witness statements, and for court to have a copies, in good time before the hearing

• Setting and process generally informal and quick

• Evidence is not normally given under oath.

• General rule is that regardless of who wins or loses legal costs are not awarded.

• At the end of the hearing the Judge will generally advise of the outcome and reasons and a copy of the judgment is generally sent out later.

I have heard that a Statutory Demand is a useful debt recovery tool ?

Some creditors use statutory demands as a high risk, tactical warning shot.  There are occasions when such demands work very well, and on other occasions, use of a demand inappropriately or as a means of calling a debtor’s bluff can backfire spectacularly. Each case should be judged on it’s own merits with the benefit of experienced advice.

The following points are worth noting :-

• A Statutory Demands is not intended as a way of short circuiting the court system and should strictly speaking only be used with an uncontested debt of over £750.00
• Statutory demands can be used for both company or personal debtors, the versions of the demand are different
• A statutory demand is technically a prelude before bankruptcy or winding up. If the debtor ignores the demand and the creditor does not then spend the fees on issuing a winding up or bankruptcy petition promptly, the creditor tends to lose credibility
• The debtor has 21 days to pay the debt from service or 18 days to apply to set the demand aside

Can a debtor use any tactics to thwart the success of a statutory demand ?

In short yes, although in the same way that the courts are generally alive to a creditor “playing the game”, the court will not look kindly on obvious and inappropriate tactics by the creditor. The following are possibilities :-

• Reduce the debt owed to the creditor to below £750 which is the lowest amount owed that can result in a bankruptcy order
• Apply for the demand to be set aside but only if there is a genuine dispute or the demand is otherwise unlawful
• Make an offer to settle or compound  the debt/s  to the creditors satisfaction

More information about debt recovery services or business litigation is found on other pages on the site.

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