What Happens Next?
After receiving the court proceedings the defendant will normally send to the court a document called a Defence. This will be their response to your claim. The defendant can, in their defence, admit blame or if they still dispute that they are at fault they have to give their reasons. The defendant too will have to sign a Statement of Truth.
Depending on the value of your claim, the court will allocate it to one of 3 tracks:
- Small claims track - Where the injury element of your claim is valued at less than £1,000.
- Fast track - Where the injury claim is worth more than £1,000 but less than £15,000.
- Multi track - All claims with a value in excess of £15,000.
The vast majority of cases are allocated to the fast track. Once this happens the court will provide a timetable to ensure a speedy management of the claim through to trial if this is required. At the end of that timetable the court will have provided us with a trial "window" (the trial could take place on any day within a specified 3 week period). This is about 6 months after the start of the timetable. The trial date cannot be changed except in the most unusual circumstances (e.g. serious injury to or death of a witness who needs to attend trial).
If your claim is worth more than £15,000 it is assumed that it involves a more serious injury or more significant out of pocket expenses and the court may arrange a case conference before giving a trial date. The judge then considers all outstanding matters which need to be dealt with before the case is ready for trial and will impose a further timetable on the parties. You may be expected to attend this case conference but you will be represented by us and possibly a barrister at it. Before the trial the judge will also hold a further review to check the matter is ready to go to trial and once the trial date has been set, it cannot normally be changed.
