small claims court, legal advice needed ,thanks,,,,uk?

Question

Hiya,i have been going through a legal process for the last 4 years,
its complicated but,i was being taken to court initially for 15000 pounds,then it got put to the small claims court which means it is less than 4000 pounds.
My legal bills are approx 1600 pounds.The claiment passed away in september,leaving his mother to deal with his affairs.He died bankrupt and on benifits,he also got legal aid,
His solicitor now tells me that they no longer wish to persue there claim as long as i do NOT CLAIM MY COSTS,
The last thing i would do would be to upset even more a mother who has lost her son,by asking for money.
But i have receipts for almost 1600,any suggestions serious answers only...thanks

Answer 1

The thing is were you in the right?
If so I think you must try to claim your legal costs from his estate.
The claim against you will die with him but even if he died bankrupt there may be some assets in his estate.

Answer 2

If after the death of a claimant in any claim the cause of action survives, but no order is made substituting as claimant any person in whom the claim vests or, as the case may be, the personal representatives of the deceased claimant, you may apply to the court for an order that unless the claim is proceeded with within such time as may be specified in the order the claim shall be struck out. (RSC Ord 15, Rule 9)

It is more likely than not that the claimant did not make provision for the claim to be pursued against you after his or her death, or alternatively that the family of the deceased no longer wishes to pursue it. The difficulty is that you simply do not know the reason. If it is the former then you would win by default, as it were, and you can claim your costs against the deceased's estate. If it is the latter then you risk prolonging the claim.

In either event you should ask the court to make an order that the claim be proceeded with within say, 28 days, that will protect your interests. At the same time write a letter to the claimaints solicitors, on a without prejudice basis, stating what terms you would be willing to settle the matter - either that each party bears its own costs, or the claimaints estate pays part of your costs. Whatever you decide make sure that the settlement is final and that no further claims, in any form or manner whatsoever, can be pursued or resurrected after the settlement. It is probably better to file a consent order to that effect with the court to make sure.

Answer 3

Hello Marki,

It is difficult to answer your question because you do not say whether you actually owed the 15K to begin with.

On the strength of that and it was you who were taken to court I can only assume that this is a debt that you do owe.

If this is the case my advice would be to accept the conditions laid down by the late son's solicitors and accept their offer.

If it was me and I owed £15.000 and it was brought down to £4.000 or less, I would have accepted that and come to an arrangement to pay this off to the claimant.

That debt has now been virtually wiped from your slate and you have been left with an overall payment of £1.600.

All in all I feel that you have done very well.

The £1.600 has already been paid as you have the receipts, so in effect the other £13.400 has been written off and is a profit for you.

With regard to the mother, as you say she has suffered the loss of her son and she now has to deal with trying to retrieve money owed to her late son.

I assume his mother has decided that she does not want to pursue the claim and is prepared to drop the whole matter.

If you did owe 15K to begin with which eventually ended up in you only paying £1.600, why do you wish to put his mother through more anguish and try to make her pay back the costs incurred by you.

My advice is to quit while you are well ahead.

If, on the other hand you were fighting the claim because you did not owe the original sum, this is a matter for you and your conscience.

If a relatively small amount (nowadays) of £15K has taken four years of legal wranglings and has still not been resolved, is it really worth even more hassle and time to fight it.

On top of that you may well find you are paying even more money to the 'fat cats' solicitors and may still end up with nothing.

It seems to me that the only people likely to come out of this with a bigger bank balance are the solicitors dealing with both you and the mother.

My honest opinion is to accept the loss of £1.600, whether you owed the intial amount or not and let the mother try to pick up the pieces and get on with her life.

After all it is not her fault.

Poseidon

Answer 4

I'd cut my losses and leave it at that. The view would be that you engaged a lawyer at your own behest, you weren't obliged to. The only way you would have got your costs covered would have been if the court found in your favour, and from what you say you wouldn't have stood a snowball's chance of getting any money out of this man anyway.

Accept the offer, but insist as a condition of your acceptance that you receive official confirmation that the case has been struck out.

Answer 5

Hi, It is very sad story. You have suffered not only financial damages but also a moral blame. In India, we have consumer courts for such claims. Find out if you have similar courts in the country of your residence. I do not think truck driver's accomplice can be independent party for the witness. I wonder how a residence building complex can be considered a purely private estate.

Answer 6

Not sure what the correct answer is, but whatever costs you have be realistic about how much you will get back even if you continue court action. If a person has no assets then there is no point in getting a judgment for them to pay you, even if the Court will give you the judgment.

Answer 7

Take the £1600 on the chin.

There must have been a debt for the plaintiff to claim £15000 in the first place, so I suspect that his solicitor was confident of securing a liability order against you. Remember they have stopped persuing you, you have not successfully defended their claim.

If you persue them for your costs, and you lose, your costs will increase and have their costs for resisting your application added.

Answer 8

You need to have your head examined. A guy who died was suing you, now you want to claim costs!

As soon as you file for costs his estate solicitors will counterclaim immediately as he was bankrupt, they will almost certainly act on behalf of his creditors, and will chase you via them for the full amount.

Or did you not understand that if you owe a debt, if declared bankrupt the lawyers for the estate will chase monies owed?

Answer 9

in my experience it does not matter if you feel you are in the right, if you lose money proving it - you've lost. You can't get blood out of a stone - if the funds are not there, you will not get your money, no matter how much you are in the right.
lf l were you l would write off the £1,600, walk away and put it down to experience. if you owe £15,000 or even £4000 you are still quids in - leave it at that.... in the end - only the lawyers win!

Answer 10

Hi marki, I would present the bill to the person dealing with the Estate of the deceased.