court claim against under 18's

[dave top]

Can someone clear this up please, i was of the understanding that you can't make a court claim against someone under 18 ( well you can but won't succeed ) to test this i phoned two random county courts and said i wanted to make a court claim and the person is under 18 and both said you can't claim against someone under 18, so what is the situation if you are under 18 and receive the claim forms, thanks

[ostell]

Depends on the nature of the claim. You can claim if it was for necessities. Now that definition of necessities I wouldn't care to guess at.

[MarkHobson]

1. Court Staff are not legally trained and know Jack shit about this stuff.

2. Of course you can sue an under 18. But once you have issued and served the Claim Form you are prevented by the rules from doing anything else until the kid has a Litigation Friend. If no one agrees to do this for the kid, the Claimant can apply to the court for one to be appointed.

3. We then come to the point made by Ostell - is there any point in suing a kid ? If a 17 year old driver caused an accident he would have motor insurance and so there would be a point. If the kid stopped paying the HP on his new Lambo - then the hire company might find that it did not have a valid contract with the kid in the first place - kids can, in theory, only contract for necessities.

HTH.

[des8]

We don't know what this claim is for.
If a youth over 10 years is convicted of a criminal act or causes injury he can be sued for compensation.
If a child deliberately causes damage to property they can be sued ,- tt depends on the circumstances and the child's understanding as to whether or not you would win
Then if the young person/child has assets or within the 6 years obtains assets , judgement can be enforced.
And if he lives at home with parents who have household insurance which includes legal liability of all occupants the insurance co will pay