Solicitor trying to make me pay £3000 for case in Small Claims Court

[Darren007]

It is definitely in the Small Claims Track.

 

The Judge tried to argue that I had jumped the gun by issuing proceedings against the Defendant even though I had shown correspondence that I had tried to resolve matters much earlier with the Defendant. He then said I showed no remorse.

 

As soon as we entered the room, the Judge had made his mind up and despite my presenting my arguments, he refused to listen.

[MrShed]

Did he file a formal countersuit for the charges?

[Darren007]

No. He filed an application to have the case struck out and then wrote to me 3 days ago and attached his schedule of charges asking that I pay these.

 

When the Judge advised that he was going to strike out the claim the Barrister said that she has a list of charges for the Defendant.

 

The Judge looked at them and said I will knock off a £100 of this. This seems fair as I am a lawyer and this hourly rate is fair. He looked at the Barrister costs and said do you have the invoice for this chap. she said no but he said ok I will allow this.

 

When I stated that I cannot understand how the Judge was allowing this without having been served a detailed time sheet, he simply replied that the cost loked fair and ok to him.

[MrShed]

Appeal. No question in my mind that if this is small claims, and no countersuit was filed, that you need to appeal this decision.

[Darren007]

Can you advise how I do so and how I complete the forms and line of argument.

 

Feel so deflated right now.

 

Are there any legal arguments I need to present on the appeal form?

[MrShed]

Absolutely no idea I'm afraid.

[Darren007]

Just found this on the Ministry of Justice website Rule 27.14 in respect of costs in a Small Claims Court.

 

My understanding is that I do not fall in to the exceptions but I need a legal interpretation on this.

 

 

Costs on the small claims track

27.14

(1)

This rule applies to any case which has been allocated to the small claims track unless paragraph (5) applies.

(Rules 44.9 and 44.11 make provision in relation to orders for costs made before a claim has been allocated to the small claims track)

(2)

The court may not order a party to pay a sum to another party in respect of that other party’s costs, fees and expenses, including those relating to an appeal, except –

(a)

the fixed costs attributable to issuing the claim which –

(i)

are payable under Part 45; or

(ii)

would be payable under Part 45 if that Part applied to the claim;

(b)

in proceedings which included a claim for an injunction or an order for specific performance a sum not exceeding the amount specified in the relevant practice direction for legal advice and assistance relating to that claim;

©

any court fees paid by that other party;

(d)

expenses which a party or witness has reasonably incurred in travelling to and from a hearing or in staying away from home for the purposes of attending a hearing;

(e)

a sum not exceeding the amount specified in the relevant practice direction for any loss of earnings or loss of leave by a party or witness due to attending a hearing or to staying away from home for the purposes of attending a hearing;

(f)

a sum not exceeding the amount specified in the relevant practice direction for an expert’s fees; and

(g)

such further costs as the court may assess by the summary procedure and order to be paid by a party who has behaved unreasonably.

(3)

A party’s rejection of an offer in settlement will not of itself constitute unreasonable behaviour under paragraph (2)(g) but the court may take it into consideration when it is applying the unreasonableness test.

(4)

The limits on costs imposed by this rule also apply to any fee or reward for acting on behalf of a party to the proceedings charged by a person exercising a right of audience by virtue of an order under section 11 of the Courts and Legal Services Act 19901 (a lay representative).

(5)

Where –

(a)

the financial value of a claim exceeds the limit for the small claims track; but

(b)

the claim has been allocated to the small claims track in accordance with rule 26.7(3),

the small claims track costs provisions will apply unless the parties agree that the fast track costs provisions are to apply.

(6)

Where the parties agree that the fast track costs provisions are to apply, the claim and any appeal will be treated for the purposes of costs as if it were proceeding on the fast track except that trial costs will be in the discretion of the court and will not exceed the amount set out for the value of claim in rule 46.2 (amount of fast track trial costs).

[MrShed]

By the judges attitude it sounds as if he has used exemption 2.g...

[TheChancellor]

Am I missing the easy bit?

 

Was the cheque made out to you or the LL?

 

If it was made out to him then I would have tackled the insurance company as that is their fault & if it was made out to you I would have called in the police.

 

I know hindsight is wonderful but did any of the above apply?

[legalpickle]

Hi Legalpickle

 

Things did not go well.

 

The Judge read my amended POC and decided that the Defendant had no case to argue as the monies had been paid back to me (albeit not the service charges). He argued that should be referred to the LVT.

 

I could live with all of this but he then awarded £2700 costs against me.

 

I showed him numerous correspondence that I wrote to the Defendant and their Solicitor to try and rsolve this matter but the Judge said that I should have had the case withdrawn and settled on costs directly or made an application to the court earlier. I did show him 3 letters sent in the last 2 months asking the Solicitors if we can sort out this matter to which I had no response.

 

He just refused to listen to reason. My wife and I both felt we had not had a fair hearing but had been prejudiced against. When the barrister for the other side spoke he allowed her to do so but when we did, we were cut short at every stage. We are fairly articulate.

 

Can I do anything on the issue of the costs awarded against me or is it just tough luck? The Solicitors did not provide time sheets for their time but the Judge just simply said this looks ok as I am also a Solicitor.

 

I thought costs could not be awarded for cases under £5000.

Can't say I'm surprised. I warned you at least some costs would be awarded due to the very bad PoC.

 

Costs can be awarded for cases under £5,000. Small claims are not the same as the small claims track. Furthermore, an Application hearing, especially if before an Allocation Order, is not considered small claims track, so yes, costs can be awarded in claims below £5k in circumstances like this one.

 

No offence meant, but reading your proposed Statement of Facts and your Particulars of Claim leads me to believe that you were not sufficiently articulate for such a claim.

 

Did you follow my instructions and not mark the Statement of Facts - or call it - an Amended PoC? If you didn't follow my instructions that would have been sufficient to make any Judge award costs against you because it basically admits you had botched up thus far.

 

You can apply for an appeal, but I seriously recommend you hire a Solicitor to do this for you. In Appeals costs are generally awarded so if you botch up, you are likely to be a lot worse off than you are now. You can only apply for an appeal once you have the court order which normally takes about two weeks.

 

The basis for the appeal would be that the Judge was wrong in his decision as the matters before the LVT are separate proceedings and the leaseholder does not have the right to retain monies till then, especially as they are from a completely different issue.

 

If you feel that the Judge was unfair to you, you can complain - but this complaint cannot be about the ruling or it will get thrown out. Visit Office for Judicial Complaints - Complaints about judges, members of small tribunals or coroners

 

I know hindsight is wonderful but did any of the above apply?

If you read the thread since your last post you will see that it wasn't relevant.

 

 

This cannot have been in small claims court if he has awarded costs...?

 

Did they formally countersue for costs? or not?

If you read my post above, you'll see that you are not entirely correct.

 

Next, one does not counterclaim for costs. Costs are requested by application, not by counterclaim. Such a counterclaim - had they made one - would have been struck out as an abuse of process!

 

Yes they used a Trainee Barrister.

 

This was in the Small Claims track and the claim was under £5000.

 

I had to point out that the Solicitors had not provided time sheets and the time charged was unsubstantiated. The Judge could not be bothered to listen.

 

IS there anything I can do?

 

I'm not sure if an remuneration certificate fro the Legal Complaints Service would work as I never instructed the Solicitor even though I now have to pay the fee.

Legal Complaints Service is about Solicitors you have instructed.

 

Appeal - with a Solicitor - is your only option. You can appeal yourself but I would recommend against it so much that I would not be prepared to assist in such a matter, because I think it would be to your detriment - or anybody's detriment - if they took it on themselves without massive legal knowledge and experience - in which case they wouldn't need my help.

 

They did not formally counter sue. They argued for the case to be struck out and presented a legal bill.

 

The Judge awarded 95% of it.

Which is perfectly legitimate.

 

I think you need to check, double check, and triple check that this was Small Claims, as opposed to another track such as Fast Track.

 

If it was, then you have an excellent case, as the judge is WAY outside of his jurisdiction awarding legal costs, as there is no ability to do this in SCC.

 

Sorry for being disbelieving - I just find it difficult to comprehend that a judge can act this wrongly if it was indeed small claims.

It does not have to be fast track for costs. If it was before allocation or - as it was - an Application Notice or CPR 27.14[g] then costs can be awarded.

 

Also small claims are not necessarily small claims track.

 

Finally, costs can be awarded in small claims track, and this is done. Not often but it is done!

 

It is definitely in the Small Claims Track.

 

The Judge tried to argue that I had jumped the gun by issuing proceedings against the Defendant even though I had shown correspondence that I had tried to resolve matters much earlier with the Defendant. He then said I showed no remorse.

 

As soon as we entered the room, the Judge had made his mind up and despite my presenting my arguments, he refused to listen.

Stating "As soon as we entered the room, the Judge had made his mind up" in an appeal or complaint is bound to get it thrown out.

 

Even if it had actually been allocated to the small claims track, it was an Application hearing so is irrelevant.

 

Did he file a formal countersuit for the charges?

Not necessary, as I have written above in this post. Counterclaiming for costs is not how it is done. A Schedule of Costs stating an intention to apply for costs must be served.

 

Appeal. No question in my mind that if this is small claims, and no countersuit was filed, that you need to appeal this decision.

Again, no counterclaim is necessary for costs!

 

Appeal should only be done with a Solicitor, even though I do agree the decision was wrong.

 

Can you advise how I do so and how I complete the forms and line of argument.

 

Feel so deflated right now.

 

Are there any legal arguments I need to present on the appeal form?

Do not do this yourself, under any circumstances. You have lost once, partially - at least - due to not presenting the PoC correctly, do not depend on your own resources or you are extremely likely to lose again and lose a lot more!

 

Go to a Solicitor - when you have the order [which you should have within 2 weeks or so] - and follow my recommendation above on the basis for the appeal.

 

Please keep us posted.

 

Best of Luck.