Litigation is the process of taking a dispute to court when the parties to the dispute cannot agree a fair and proper solution (a settlement).
The Civil Procedure Rules 1998 (“CPR”) is a comprehensive set of rules which governs all aspects of the civil litigation process. Time limits are prescribed within the rules, namely which steps in the litigation process must be undertaken, the correct forms to use and the obligations of the parties to narrow the issues in dispute.
When a claim is made to the Court and the other side’s defence has been filed and served, the case will be allocated to a particular track, depending on various issues such as the value of the claim and complexity.
There are currently four tracks as follows:
Most claims under the value of £10 000 will be allocated to this track unless they are personal injury or housing disrepair cases.
If your claim is not particularly ‘complex’ and has a value of between £10 000 and £25000 it will be allocated to this track. Following the implementation of The Fixed Recoverable Costs Regime on 1 October 2023 claims will now be assigned to one of four complexity bands which will provide for an ascending scale of fixed recoverable costs increasing in line with the complexity of the claim.
This is a new track which also came into effect on 1 October 2023. This track will deal with less complex claims valued at more than £25 000 but not more than £100 000. The Fixed Recoverable Costs Regime also applies to this track.
Claims with a value of over £25000 or for lesser sums of money where the case involves complex points of law and/or evidence will be allocated to this track. This track is designed to be very flexible, and a number of case management approaches can be used at the discretion of the Court. Costs will normally be awarded in the event that you are successful with your claim subject to an assessment by the court.
The allocation of the claim to one of the said tracks will govern the directions and timetable that will need to be followed to progress the claim. The directions will require the parties to
The Court will then provide the date for the trial (final hearing) having obtained dates of unavailability for the witnesses and experts from the Claimant and Defendant with a time estimate of the number of days required to hear all the evidence and arguments. The Court will give the judgment (legal decision) at the trial and make an award of costs.
If you need assistance or further guidance concerning any litigation matter please do not hesitate to contact our Dispute Resolution Solicitors for further detail.
