Debt Claim Series Part 4: Defence filed

This briefing note series is designed to assist you explaining the process of a simple small track debt claim in brief and also the options you might have.

Defence filed… What next?

Once the defendant files their defence with the court, both parties wait for the court’s response. Of course, talks can and should be ongoing at this stage of the proceedings to try and settle issues and avoid the need to go to court altogether. But now that the court has formally issued a claim, any decision between the parties must be passed onto the court and the matter should be formally discontinued.

How will the court respond?

Once the court has received the defence, they will provisionally allocate the matter to what they believe is an appropriate track. If it was a claim for money that was issued online, it will be transferred to a county court hearing centre.

The court will need to issue directions in the case. This is a list of instructions and important dates that the parties must abide by. The court will send the parties a directions questionnaire – which asks questions about how many, if any, witnesses are expected to appear, and how long the hearing is expected to take – and after it has reviewed the answers to these questionnaires, it will provide directions.

The purpose of the directions is to make sure that everything that needs to be done is completed, and both the parties have all of the available information before the hearing date.

What type of dates and instructions will be included in the directions questionnaire?

This depends on the complexity of the case. If you’re dealing with a simple debt recovery claim – such as our example in Part 1 where a shopkeeper doesn’t return your deposit – then the matter will normally be allocated to the fast track. As this is the track for the least complicated matters where the amount allegedly owed is under £10,000 it has the simpler set of directions than the other tracks to allow it to process cases more expediently.

The court will either fix the trial date and tell you when it will be, or they will give you a three-week window when the hearing will take place. You must be able to attend this hearing with your solicitor as the judge may have questions to which only you have the answer.

The directions will also dictate when certain documents have to be filed and served (i.e. sent to the court and the other side). ‘Standard’ directions are often used (but the judge can vary these as they see fit) which dictate that a copy of all documents which the parties intend to use at the trial hearing are filed and served at least 14 days before the hearing. This is why it’s so important to make an accurate note of when your hearing date is – so everything is filed on time.

If you do not file a vital piece of evidence on time, then judge hearing your case may not allow you to rely on it at the hearing.

What if I miss a date?

Don’t! Your solicitor will make sure that all of your documents are filed and served in good time. If for some reason you come to us partway into the proceedings, and a date is missed, we can try and rectify this for you. Sometimes this comes with cost implications – you may have to pay something towards the other side’s legal costs, but this is worthwhile if it means that you can continue to fight the case.

Directions can be amended by consent between the parties, but the court must be informed if these amendments result in the hearing date having to be pushed back. If you haven’t hired a solicitor at this point and you’re struggling for time, come to us as soon as you can, and we’ll try and find a bit of breathing space for you.

Will I meet the judge at this point?

There is a preliminary hearing called a Case Management Conference (CMC). We would not expect to have a CMC in a small debt recovery matter, but courts have broad case management powers, and if the court thinks that it is necessary they may order a CMC. Directions will be decided at the CMC after representations are made by the parties about what they believe they require in order to progress the matter.

While there will be a Judge at the CMC there’s no guarantee that this will be the same judge that you see in your final hearing. They’re very busy and share cases between them.

What’s next?

After the directions have been received, they will need to be complied with, which means filing evidence on time and in the correct format. That’s all in next week’s article.

Contact us

Have you been served with a debt claim by the court? Are you owed money either as a debt or having lent money and want to claim it back? This series is not to be deemed legal advice and the only way to ensure you have correct advice relevant to you claim is to contact us to assist.