The Novice Guide to Court hearings: part 1 Introduction

This Saturday Slot post is the first part of my weekly series of posts on Court Hearings (in the UK). You can see the others >> here.

County Court Hearings

Courts are scary places. Or so many people think. Often they take place in old Victorian buildings with intimidating atmospheres. There are people walking around wearing medieval robes. And you are petrified because you don’t know what to do and have never spoken in public before.

This short series is an attempt to prepare you for the ordeal, and hopefully take away some of the fear, so you will feel more willing to give it a go.

Be careful

Although the series is specifically about court hearings, perhaps I should start by striking a few cautionary notes about court cases generally. You need to bear in mind always the following

• Courts are very busy places with limited resources (which in the current financial crisis is unlikely to change),

• Judges are generally not pleased if they think that people have been wasting their time

• So, you should never start a court claim on a whim – it is a serious business and an inappropriate claim could end up costing you a lot of money, and

• Don’t forget that in many cases the court can (and will) order the losing party to pay the winning parties costs

You have been warned!  However, that said, if you do have a good case, and your opponent is being unreasonable about things – you may have no alternative but to go to court. Or you may be the defendant in a claim where you think you are in the right.

If you are really careful with your paperwork, prepare properly, and then at the hearing follow the guidance in this series, it should be your opponent who feels the Judges ire and who ends up out of pocket, not you.

The types of hearing this series is about

This series is aimed at people acting in person and will therefore be relevant for the sort of hearings where people acting in person generally appear. These will include:

• hearings for directions – these are short hearings where the Judge decides what procedural things need to be done before the case can be listed for trial/full hearing

• applications before or after trial – these are generally to do with procedural matters relating to the case

• small claims trials – small claims is the name given for the special procedure used for claims with a value of less than £5,000, and

• hearings for possession – initial hearing dates only

Other cases

However for more complex cases, for example claims for over £5,000, claims where you or your opponent are asking for something like an injunction, defended possession claims, or cases involving complex areas of law, you should *always* take professional legal advice, and if possible arrange to be represented at court.

If you are short of funds:

• Check your insurance policies – you may find that you are covered for legal help
• Speak to local solicitors about costs – many firms will offer no win no fee agreements, or
• See if your solicitor will agree to give you some free advice and perhaps some further guidance on a fixed fee basis, or
• Speak to local charities such as the Citizens  Advice Bureau or Shelter – they can often help. For discrimination cases contact the Equality and Human  Rights Commission.

Cases without hearings

I should perhaps end by saying that in many cases, there will be no hearing. The ‘accelerated procedure’ for possession for example, is a special type of procedure where the Judge decides the case on the paperwork alone.  And in the vast majority of claims for a CCJ, the defendant will not file any defence and the claimant will be able to enter judgement ‘in default’.

However you can never count on this, and even in accelerated possession claims there will be hearings occasionally.

Have you had to go to court recently or have you a court hearing coming up? What things particularly worry you? What sort of things would you like me to cover in this series?

Next week I will be looking at preparing for the court hearing.

NB This series has now been made into a book >> click here to find out more.