26th April 1999 was D-Day for the implementation of radical changes to the civil courts procedure. The main features are:

• The minimum debt for High Court claims will be £15,000. In other words, the vast majority of debt recovery will take place in the County Court.

• No more Plaintiffs - creditors from now on will be ‘Claimants’!

• Defendants will have 14 days from the date of service of the Claim in which to file an acknowledgement of service. They will have a further 14 days in which to file a Defence. At both stages Judgment in default will be available to Creditors if the Defendant does not respond.

• The old rule transferring cases to the home Court of the Defendant once a Defence is filed has been modified. It will not apply to limited company Defendants.

• If a claim is defended, the Court will allocate it to one of three tracks depending on the amount claimed:

Small Claims Track

• For claims up to £5,000. Basically the same procedure will apply as currently applies to  small claims up to £3,000.

Fast Track

• For claims between £5,000 and £15,000. These cases will he subject to an accelerated procedure which will involve the Court listing the case for Hearing once it is allocated to the track with the trial to take place approximately 30 weeks later. Procedures and the timetable to trial will he streamlined. There will be restrictions on the number of witnesses, particularly experts. Disclosure of documents will be limited and the Court will adopt a test of proportionality in deciding how much to award the winning party as costs.

Multi-Track

• For claims of £15,000 upwards. Case management may take place in either the County Court or the High Court. The hallmark will be a strong emphasis on Court supervised case management to get cases to trial quickly and cost effectively.

• The same rules of procedure will apply to both County Court and High Court cases.

• A whole set of new Court forms will be adopted - anyone trying to use an old style NI summons on the 26th April will receive short shrift from the Court!

• Beaver Corporation who supply our Legal Arms case management system have pledged to upgrade the system in time for 26th April. We will therefore be fully compliant with the new rules from day one.

• Whether the Courts will be able to cope is another matter. The emphasis on case management by the Courts implies the need for greater resources which may not be forthcoming. We all have our favourite nightmare Courts (has anyone ever had a reply to a letter to Willesden County Court?). Whether those Courts with existing backlogs can cope is very doubtful. The Courts’ own CASEMAN computer system may well not be upgraded in time!

What does all this mean for Creditors?

The bad news is that Creditors will have to make more use of the County Court than previously. Debtors may be encouraged to enter spurious Defences and apply for payment by instalments.

• To circumvent the danger of delaying tactics, many Creditors with debts over £750 will threaten winding up or bankruptcy instead. There may well be an increase in insolvencies as a result.

• For those cases which are dealt with in the County Court, cases should get to a hearing quicker and more cost effectively.

• Summary Judgment will be available in all cases including those in the Small Claims Track. Better still, Creditors will be able to recover costs if successful even if the debt is below £5,000.00!

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