Am I entitled to a refund of my hearing fee?

[Girl Friday]

Hi

I recently settled a small claim* seven days before the hearing was due. I understood at the time that because of new rules several years ago I would not be entitled to a refund. Then two days after settling I received notice from the court that the hearing had been cancelled due to* Coronavirus and* because a judge had decided that it was not suitable to be heard by telephone or a video link.* The defendant and I were invited to submit dates when we would not be available whereupon a new date for the hearing would be provided.

I have read on a couple of sites that hearing fees are not refundable if a claim has been settled and the court has provided a date for the hearing which suggests to me that a refund would be due if there was a settlement but no hearing date given by the court, which is effectively the case for my claim.*

I wrote to the court asking for a refund but this has been refused. Can anyone offer any clarification or advice please.

[R0b]

Based on what you've said, you are not entitled to a refund of the hearing fee. Always, always always, make sure any settlement includes the fees you have paid in addition to the settlement amoubt otherwise you end up in the position now, out of pocket.*

[Girl Friday]

Thanks for the reply. It's not an issue in that sense - I made a pragmatic, negotiated settlement and I understood the consequences of not including my costs in the settlement. I knew that in the ordinary way of things I would not get a refund but before I could advise the court it was settled and I no longer needed a hearing the court wrote to cancel the forthcoming hearing. I was checking on various sites to confirm there would be no refund when I came across this statement on one site which was explaining the rules as from March 2017:-

'No Refund: This will apply to all cases where the court has given notice of the trial date or start of the trial period after 6 March 2017, the fee has been paid and the case then settles,'

In my case, the claim settled just after the court cancelled the hearing so there was no notice of 'the trial date' . I accept I may be misunderstanding this or it may be incorrect information and I can live without recovering the fee - as I expected to before the court cancelled the hearing, but it seems wrong and contrary the the above statement.

[R0b]

I was checking on various sites to confirm there would be no refund when I came across this statement on one site which was explaining the rules as from March 2017:-

'No Refund: This will apply to all cases where the court has given notice of the trial date or start of the trial period after 6 March 2017, the fee has been paid and the case then settles,'

That's correct, there was a change in legislation to the fees and effective from that date, any hearing fee will be non-refundable after it has been paid and then settled - previously you could get a refund if you notified the court 7 days before the hearing date.

I think your misunderstanding is that you might be thinking because the court adjourned the original hearing date, then the rules reset and you can claim a refund - that's not the case. As soon as the court gives a date for the hearing, it will automatically trigger a requirement on the claimant to pay the hearing fee. It is irrelevant, for the purposes of a refund, whether the hearing gets cancelled because the rule is triggered from the first hearing date given. So once that fee is paid,it is effectively non-refundable.

[Girl Friday]

Thanks for the clarification. It was just a thought - as I said before ; I made the decision to settle without including costs with my eyes wide open as he paid the actual claim in full and going to court is always a risk in itself. I could have come away from court with less for the actual claim but with costs and still have been no better or even worse off. A bird in the hand and all that.

[R0b]

That's fair enough, as long as you are happy with the outcome that is all that matters but as I mentioned before, good practice to make sure application and hearing fees are always be factored into the settlement - be weary of defendants who make a global amount that covers everything. The global amount might have taken into account the fees as part of the settlement but not always the case, they may just base it on the damages only.