Defendants Costs (Small Claims)

[SunbeamFan]

Hi All,

i always thought that in a Small Claim each party was responsible for their own costs but it seems if you are not successful in a Small Claim then you could be ordered to pay the Defendants costs, is this correct?

I am about to start a Small Claim action which is in the £5-10k bracket so am prepared for the filing fee and Court fee, however, I will be the Litigant in Person but the defendant has appointed a Solicitor. Although I am confident that I have a good case are there limits on the Defendants costs that could be awarded against me if I am unsuccessful or could it literally be all their cost?

many thanks for any info.

[R0b]

Strictly speaking, it is wrong to say that each party will bear their own costs. Cases allocated to the small claims track means that recovery of costs are limited, but not entirely extinguished as there are certain exceptions.

A successful party may be able to recover from the other:

1. Fixed costs for issuing claim e.g. where they instructed a lawyer to issue the claim form (up to £80 depending on value of claim)
2. If the claim involves an injunction or order for specific performance fees are up to £260.
3. Court fees paid.
4. Cost of witnesses attending covering travel and accommodation costs.
5. Loss of earnings/holiday entitlement up to £95 per day.
6. Expert fees capped at £750.

See the link to Practice Direction 27, paragraph 7.1 - https://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/pr.../pd_part27#7.1

It is possible for a court to make an order for all costs of the other side where one party has behaved unreasonably but rarely is this applied and the bar is set rather high. The acid test for the court to determine is whether the conduct permits of a reasonable explanation - conduct cannot be described as unreasonable simply because it leads in the event to an unsuccessful result or because other more cautious legal representatives would have acted differently.

[SunbeamFan]

Thanks rob so if in the unlikely event I were unsuccessful (as I'm a first time Litigant I'm wary of being caught out on a technicality) it would be unusual for all the Respondents costs to be awarded against me unless the Judge believed I had behaved unreasonably in bringing the action to start with?

[R0b]

Generally, yes.

It is possible for one side to make an application to strike out the claim/defence or summary judgment which can yield a costs order but I believe that can only occur before the claim has been allocated to the small claims track - once it's been allocated I am fairly certain the Civil Procedure Rules says that all costs are then limited, but don't quote me on that since it's one of those nuances that you don't really know unless you need to seek it out.

Lot's of big businesses and defendant solicitors like to use the thread of costs against litigants in person as they know it will throw them off bringing a claim if they think they will be slapped with fairly substantial costs. Personally I think that's a breach of the Solicitors Code of Conduct if not misleading and that in of itself could be considered unreasonable conduct.