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We are pursuing a claim against our builder in small claims court, we have gotten a notice for a hearing with the directions “to ascertain whether an expert witnesses is needed, or can be of help”. Time allocated is 20 minutes and no further instructions or request to pay hearing fee. It also says that the case can be moved to a different court or judge.
Can someone please advise on what we are to expect from this hearing, do we need to bring any witnesses or submit witness statements? Also, what kind of questions will the judge be asking? I am happy to tell more about the case if needed, in short its two leaking showers right after a full renovation. We fixed one shower with a different contractor as the original builder failed to reply within a reasonable time and we asked him a more proper fix than “re-grout and silicone the leaking area” he suggested for the second bathroom to which he did not reply and we got new quotes for from other builders. He is claiming we unreasonably rejected his proposal for the second bathroom so I guess the expert angle may come in whether his solution was appropriate. It is untrue that we rejected his proposal in first place as we merely raised concerns to which he owed us a response we never got, hence I think his defence falls before you need expert conclusion whether the solution itself was appropriate or not.
Can someone please advise on what we are to expect from this hearing, do we need to bring any witnesses or submit witness statements? Also, what kind of questions will the judge be asking? I am happy to tell more about the case if needed, in short its two leaking showers right after a full renovation. We fixed one shower with a different contractor as the original builder failed to reply within a reasonable time and we asked him a more proper fix than “re-grout and silicone the leaking area” he suggested for the second bathroom to which he did not reply and we got new quotes for from other builders. He is claiming we unreasonably rejected his proposal for the second bathroom so I guess the expert angle may come in whether his solution was appropriate. It is untrue that we rejected his proposal in first place as we merely raised concerns to which he owed us a response we never got, hence I think his defence falls before you need expert conclusion whether the solution itself was appropriate or not.
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