Going to Court
Going to Court is supposed to be a last resort. Most importantly, issuing Court proceedings is like getting on a roller-coaster ride. Once you get on it is very difficult to get off until the end. You therefore need to make sure it is what you want to do.
To issue proceedings you need to send a letter to the Court asking them to issue the claim. Accompanying the letter needs to be copies of your Claim Form (2 copies plus 1 each for every Defendant) along with payment of the issue fee or an Application for Fee Exemption. Any cheque should be made payable to "HMCS".
You can either set out the whole of your claim in the Claim Form or expand on this by providing what is known as a Particulars of Claim. This is supposed to be a concise statement of the issues between the parties, it is not supposed to be setting out all of the argument about who said what to whom and when. The judge and the other side are supposed to be able to read this and know very quickly what the case is about. As a rough rule of thumb this should not be longer than 2 sides of A4, preferably typed.
A simple guide to setting out the case is as follows:
- Who you are and who the other party is;
- When the events giving rise to the claim occurred and where;
- The type, make and registration of each vehicle involved and who was driving them;
- Why you say the other party should pay you money/compensation;
- What money/compensation you are seeking.
Where you are seeking payment of specific losses these should be listed individually or in groups (e.g. if you are claiming for additional travel costs on 2 days list the days and amounts, but for 20 days you should list the total amount with a daily amount if appropriate) and are usually best set out in a simple schedule, either attached to the claim form or within it. If you were injured you should also include "damages for personal injury" and give brief details of the injury.
Don't forget to ask for interest. If you do not ask for it you are not entitled to it.
It is permissible to attach documents to your Claim Form or Particulars of Claim, and certain circumstances require it. If you have a medical report you intend to rely on it should be attached. If you think the description of what took place would benefit from a plan or photo of the scene this may be sensible also. What you should not do is attach a large bundle of papers to your Claim Form and state "see attached".
On receipt of the papers the Court should send a copy to each Defendant, keep a copy for themselves and send a sealed copy back to you. They can only do this if you send them enough copies.
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