Costs when a court adjourns your hearing at no notice

[sunflower888]

Hi,

I'm new here. I was due to have a permission to appeal hearing last week only to arrive at court and learn it was adjourned. They sent a letter out over the weekend which only got to me when I arrived home that day of the hearing. So I have now incurred extra costs of the counsel. When I asked the court why there was an adjournment I was told they dont know. Is there any way to recover that additional fee?

I am appealing a small claims court decision not to award me costs, no costs at all, not even court costs, etc, as a result of a claim my neighbour brought when I am the victim, only for the judge to make them withdraw it after 1.5 yrs of litigation, however the judge changed at the second hearing where costs were dealt with, and so caused this issue. How can a party just be allowed to withdraw a claim and there is no penalty at all to them? Part of my appeal is a track allocation one that the second judge didnt deal with as it was meant to be one expert needed and one hearing day. They became two experts and two hearing days.

Help .... any advice?

[R0b]

Hello Sunflower888,

Have you spoken to your legal counsel on what you can do to recover the costs? Unfortunately this is something that is quite an occurrence in certain courts so you were lucky to get a letter, and presumably it is dated over the weekend - no idea why they thought it was a good idea sending something out on the weekend if your hearing is on Monday!

Anyhow, I think you have two options. First of all, put a formal complaint to the court in question and explain the situation in as far as you not being given any advance warning of the adjournment which resulted in wasted costs to yourself (including cost of travel if applicable). You should send them evidence such as a copy of the invoice or other receipts, maybe a wasted annual holiday?

If they fail to respond or acknowledge then you should consider writing to your local MP and asking them to refer the complaint to the Parliamentary Ombudsman. They will have the power to investigate HMCTS and look at the complaint and indeed, if you look at the following link there is an article that the Ombudsman awarded wasted costs against the Court for cancelling at short notice almost identical to your current issue [click for link].

Failing that, I think you would need to look at bringing a claim against the Ministry of Justice for recovery of wasted costs as a result of the adjournment. A letter before action should be sent to the Government Legal Department [click for link]. If you scroll 3/4 way down the page you will see contact details.

[ostell]

If the claim was withdrawn at the last moment by the claimant, which is what appears to have happened here rather than a court error, then surely the defendant should be able to make a wasted costs claim against the claimant?

[sunflower888]

If the claim was withdrawn at the last moment by the claimant, which is what appears to have happened here rather than a court error, then surely the defendant should be able to make a wasted costs claim against the claimant?

Sorry I missed this former reply, it was not a withdrawn item. It was the courts rescheduling due to wanting to deal with a more urgent family case I understand which meant the judge was assigned to that.