Our Pricing Information - defended Debt Claims

A dispute can be raised pre-action or following the issue of a claim. In the case of small claims (up to £10,000 in value) cases, only limited costs are recoverable, even if you win the case. This enables you to make a commercial decision about pursuing the claim, with the certainty of knowing exactly what the case will cost.

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1. DEFENDED SMALL CLAIMS ACTIONS (UP TO £10,000 IN VALUE)

Our model for all ‘standard’ non-complex defended actions includes undertaking a review of the matter and providing you with a recommendation. This recommendation will include an assessment of whether the fixed fee model is appropriate for each particular case.

This will determine which of the steps below will apply.

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What will the work involve?

• Reviewing the papers and considering the defence. Providing you with initial advice on the prospects of success. If it is appropriate, we may suggest that a without prejudice offer letter is sent to the customer to see if the claim can be settled, alternatively we will advise how to take the case forward, or possibly suggest discontinuance.
• If you instruct discontinuance, we will discontinue the case, filing a Notice of Discontinuance at Court, and will serve a copy upon the Defendant (please note there may be cost sanctions for taking this course of action once a claim has been issued).
• If you instruct us to prepare the case for trial, we will make the necessary preparations.
• We will deal with all correspondence, including emails to and from you, dealing with Court correspondence etc.
• We will prepare a Tomlin Order or Consent Order if necessary.
• We will prepare any witness statements.
• We will instruct an agent to conduct the trial.

Our fixed fee for this will be £1,250 plus VAT for claims valued at less than £5,000 and £1,750 plus VAT for claims valued between £5,000 and £10,000, plus any court associated disbursements as outlined above and fees for Counsel or an advocacy agent to attend the Trial with you. This is in addition to stage one and stage two fees as described above depending which stage has been reached.

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Q. How long will my matter take?

The time frame for this sort of recovery is dependent on court workloads and when they are able to hear a claim, but we expect a small claims hearing to be listed within 14-20 weeks of a defence being filed.

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2. DEFENDED FAST TRACK, INTERMEDIATE TRACK AND MULTI-TRACK ACTIONS (OVER £10,000)

For fast track, intermediate track and multi-track claims we will charge hourly rates in accordance with the solicitor grades below.

On each of these tracks, costs are in play and you will be entitled to recover a proportion of your costs from your opponent if you are successful. For the fast track and intermediate track, the costs are subject to a fixed costs regime so the level of costs a party may recover is set by the Court (subject to the Court’s discretion) and are based upon both the track and the complexity band within that track.

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What will the work involve?

• Reviewing the papers and considering the defence providing you with our recommendation for next steps.
• Provide you with initial advice on the prospects of success, with a cost estimate and an initial assessment of the likely track and complexity band that will apply to your matter.
• Advising you on strategy and the options open to you. These may include mediation or any other form of Alternative Dispute Resolution.
• Where mediation or ADR (alternative dispute resolution) is not appropriate we will deal with all aspects in progressing your case to Trial including, but not limited to, disclosure, preparation of witness evidence and instruction Counsel or an advocacy agent for Trial.

The total costs for dealing with this type of matter is impossible to predict but it is based on hourly rates, as noted above, and will be dependent on the complexity of claim and how far the claim proceeds. We will of course provide you with a cost estimate at the start of the matter, and at each stage in the litigation process and will update you regularly to discuss the potential impact on price before any additional charges are incurred.

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Q. How long will my matter take?

The time frame for this sort of recovery is dependent on court workloads and when they are able to hear a claim, but we expect, due to the complexity a fast / intermediate / multi-track hearing, to be listed within 52 weeks of a defence being filed.