The Lemon Fool

Hello Everyone,

Could someone please tell me if you can be time barred from making a claim in the small claims court?

Thanks and congratulations on the new site.

Regards,
Randval.

Hi Randval, it's my first `official' post here, so be gentle with me!

There are no specific time bars that apply to the small claims court as against any other court. However, there are time bars that apply to litigation generally, known as `limitation periods'. For example, if you wish to sue someone for personal injuries that you've suffered you generally have to issue your claim within 3 years of the date you were injured.

The court won't actually stop you issuing a claim outside the limitation period, but it would generally be a waste of time and money, as the person you're suing wold have a cast iron defence.

What are the particular circumstances you're enquiring about?

Ha. A complete newbie turns up and starts doling out advice like he knows what he is talking about. Tsk tsk tsk

Hello Clitheroe Kid,

Thanks for your reply, I feel honoured to receive your first reply on this new site.
I hope you are well on the way to recovery from your recent ordeal.

The query is loosely related to a matter I first raised on TMF boards about a year ago concerning planning approval received by my neighbours for a grotesque extension. Link below to the first post in a fairly long sequence.

Hope this link works.

http://boards.fool.co.uk/dereliction-of ... t=username

If not, the first post was on the Legal Issues Practical; number 100073 on Jan 1st 2016.
I hope to update this thread before the boards close.

Anyway after about 8 months of constant effort and taking the matter to the Independent Complaints Investigator the Council admitted they had 'incorrectly assessed the planning issue' and they agreed compensation was due.
The matter is now with the Ombudsman because despite admitting ' incorrect assessment' they only offered compensation they did not comply with the I.C.I. recommendation to revoke the planning permission.
One of our worries (possibly unfounded) is that when they offer the compensation they will require us to sign a non-disclosure agreement which we would not be willing to sign.
Our course of action then might be to take them to court; an action which leads me to be concerned that there may be some form of time bar on either a small claims court or full court proceedings. (The first decision notice was on 12th. October 2015.)

Your reply has allayed my fears about time bars on the small claims court.

Thank you for your help.

Regards,

Randval.

Randval wrote:Our course of action then might be to take them to court; an action which leads me to be concerned that there may be some form of time bar on either a small claims court or full court proceedings. (The first decision notice was on 12th. October 2015.)

Be very careful about issuing court proceedings. When you do so you can't decide that it will be a small claim - this is decided by the court once the claim and defence have been reviewed by a judge.

Even if you limit your claim for compensation to £10k (the small claims limit) the judge may well decide that because of the complex legal issues involved in such a case it's not suitable for the small claims track. He can then allocate it to either the fast track, or possibly even the multi-track.

If that happens you are at risk on costs, which means that if you lose your case you would probably be ordered to pay the Council's legal bill. If the matter actually went to trial this would almost certainly be well into five figures.

You can also lose a winnable case simply because you don't deal with it properly. You have to set out your claim in such a way as to disclose the legal basis for your claim, and although a layperson could probably do this perfectly well for a faulty washing machine the legal concepts you are dealing with here are far more complex. If you cock it up the court will not put it right for you, and you may end up having the claim struck out and having to pay costs not because it has no merit, but just because you've not presented it properly.

If you're serious about issuing court proceedings it really is a case where you need proper legal advice before you kick off.

Hello Clitheroekid,

Thank you once again for your advice.
We will certainly be consulting our solicitor before we take any court action.

We had no idea that the decision to be heard in a small claims court could be overridden in complex cases even if the claim is limited.
So thanks a lot for that warning.
Our case would certainly be complicated.

As you may have guessed we are incandescent with rage at what we see as the Councils attempt to bully two seventy seven year old pensioners.
We are in the process of building up a fighting fund and if our solicitor considers we have a reasonable chance we hope to take them on, either by using the courts or by public naming and shaming them via newspapers.
In the meantime your advice has made our immediate way forward clear; we will wait patiently to see what the Ombudsman thinks about it all.

We will keep the board informed about progress.

Regards,

Randval.

OwnWorst wrote:Ha. A complete newbie turns up and starts doling out advice like he knows what he is talking about. Tsk tsk tsk

What Clitheroekid meant, was like us all, he's making a new start here on Lemon fool.

For the record, he made close on 800 posts on Motley, receiving close on 58,000 recs for helpful advice !

I suggest you are a little more careful in future, with the quick quip.

HTH
Sussexlad

Sussexlad wrote:

OwnWorst wrote:Ha. A complete newbie turns up and starts doling out advice like he knows what he is talking about. Tsk tsk tsk

What Clitheroekid meant, was like us all, he's making a new start here on Lemon fool.

For the record, he made close on 800 posts on Motley, receiving close on 58,000 recs for helpful advice !

I suggest you are a little more careful in future, with the quick quip.

HTH
Sussexlad

You missed the smiley. I believe OwnWorst knows very well who Clitheroekid is.

robbelg wrote:You missed the smiley. I believe OwnWorst knows very well who Clitheroekid is.

Oh dear. Apologies then !

Sussexlad

For the record, he made close on 800 posts on Motley, receiving close on 58,000 recs for helpful advice !

I couldn't believe that it was only 800 posts so I checked. It's actually 7380, the 58000 or so recs is right though.

What a man.

SussexLad, I fully respect your reason for posting.

Hi

Thanks for the correction.

It's not starting well for me is it !! I think I'll go and lie down for a bit.

Sussexlad