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In this section |
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What happens next in the claim process? Once you have submitted the claim, the court should first "issue" the claim. The issue date should be the date on which you take the claim papers into the court, but occasionally it will be the following day. The claim is posted to the defendant, usually a few days later, and is "deemed to have been served" on the defendant two days after that date. In normal circumstance, the defendant has 14 days from the date of deemed service in which to reply to the court, i.e. usually about 3 weeks after you take the claim into the court. Within the 14 days, the defendant must either file a defence or file an acknowledgement of service which gives the defendant another 14 days in which to file a defence. If the bank does not meet these deadlines, then the claimant can apply for default judgment which means that the bank is obliged to pay the claimant without further ado. However, because of the test case, what now happens is that the claim is issued, but immediately put on hold by the Court pending the result of the test case. Your claim is essentially date stamped but then filed awaiting further developments. But at least your claim is in the system. In normal circumstances, if the bank filed a defence, you would then have to complete an allocation questionnaire. The purpose of the Allocation Questionnaire is for the Court to be able to determine from the answers that you and the bank provide what is the likely scale of hearing required to determine the case and whether it will be heard in what is known as the Small Claims track or another track. If your claim is for £5,000 or less, the correct Allocation Questionnaire form is N149. If the claim is for more than £5,000, the correct form is N150. Occasionally, the court will send out the wrong form, sending a N150 instead of a N149. You can download the correct form from the Court Service website or see resources on this site. A further fee may be payable at this stage – see court fees. Again, because of the test case, it is unclear what will happen to claims that are currently in the system when the test case result is finally confirmed. All I can suggest is that you watch this space for further advice as and when the situation develops. |
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Published and promoted by Bob Egerton, TR2 4RS |
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