Court Tracks
There are three Court tracks to which cases are allocated once proceedings have been issued. The following is a guide as to the different tracks your claim may be allocated to.
Small Claims Track:
This is for claims with a value not exceeding £5,000. In the Small Claims Track costs are not awarded save for in the following limited circumstances:
- Fixed costs, which are small costs usually between £50-£100 for issuing the claim;
- The Court Fee for issuing the claim;
- Witness expenses for traveling to and from a hearing;
- Certain prescribed sums by way of loss of earnings for witnesses to attend and;
- Certain expert fees.
The following claims will NOT be allocated to the Small Claims Track even if they have a value of under £5,000:
- Personal Injury Claims where the value of the claim for pain, suffering and loss of amenity exceeds 1000 pounds;
- Claims by tenants of residential premises seeking orders that the landlords should carryout repairs for the premises where the value of the claim exceeds 1000 pounds;
- Claims by residential tenants seeking damages against their landlords for harassment or unlawful eviction and;
- Claims that include an allegation of dishonesty.
Fast Track Claims:
The Fast Track is for any claim where the Small Claims Track is not the normal track (and for proceedings issued after April 2009) were the amount of the claim does not exceed £25,000.
The Fast Track is the normal track for any claim of no more than £25,000, unless the Trial is likely to last for longer than 1 day. All expert evidence will be limited to one expert per party in relation to any expert field and expert evidence in 2 expert fields.
Multi Track Claims:
The Multi Track is for cases valued over £25,000 pounds or for cases where Trial is likely to exceed 1 day.
Whilst the monetary value of a claim is significant in allocation to track; if the claim itself has no value then the Court will look at the issues involved in the claim and decide which track it should be allocated to.
There are a number of matters which the Court will take into account when allocating a claim. The value of the claim is one factor; however other factors may well become apparent such as:
- The remedy,
- The complexity of the facts or evidence,
- The number of parties or likely parties;
- The value of any Counterclaim or Part 20 Claim and the complexity of those matters
- The amount of oral evidence that is required;
- The importance of the claim to persons who are not party to the proceedings;
- The views expressed by the parties and;
- Service of the parties.
The Court will decide the financial value of the claim. When assessing the value of the claim for the purposes of the track; it will disregard an amount not in dispute, interest, costs and any contributory negligence.