Summary Judgement & Striking Out Defence in the County Court
Summary Judgement
When a Defendant sends a defence to the court (you will receive a copy) in response to your claim, and that defence is a sham, you can ask the court for Summary Judgment.
By making an application for Summary Judgment (using form N244 from the ‘County Court Forms’ pack) you are asking the court to give you an immediate Judgment, based on the defence having ‘no real prospect of success’ and that ‘there is no other reason why the case or issue should be dealt with at trial’. The court will take into account the views of the Claimant and Defendant. The fee for Summary Judgment is £50.
You should make your claim for Summary Judgment at the same time as returning your Allocation Questionnaire.
If in a money claim the Defendant in their defence stated that your work was of a poor quality, and as a result the Defendant had to employ another company to make good the poor workmanship, not only would this be a sound defence, but you would also leave yourself open to a counterclaim.
If the Defendant stated in their defence that the price you quoted for the work was the same as you invoiced and of reasonable quality, however, on reflection they believe your figure to be excessive by, say, 25%, the case for Summary Judgment is almost undeniable as you would argue that a swing of 25% (either way) is reasonable etc…
If your request for Summary Judgment is rejected, the case will be sent to the defendants local court for trial, if the Defendant is an ‘individual’ (a sole trader is an ‘individual’) as a defended action. In some cases you can send an application to the ‘new’ court and request the case to be transferred back to the original court. The grounds for such a request are strict, however, you can make life easier for yourself by issuing court claims to the local branch of a company, and not the head office – after all, it was the local office you dealt with (this is the type of scenario to object to a transfer of court).
If the judge accepts your request for Summary Judgment you will not have to attend court and the Defendant will have to pay your claim and costs.
If your request is not accepted you will probably have to attend court and give further details; however, a sound request for Summary Judgment will be in your favour.
Strike Out Defence
A similar action to Summary Judgment – which relies on ‘no real prospect of winning’ – where striking out is based on having no reas onable or legal defence.
By making an application for Striking Out a Defence (using form N244 from the ‘County Court Forms’ pack) you are asking the court to give you an immediate Judgment, based on the defence having ‘disclosed no reasonable grounds for defending the claim’. The court will take into account the defence only. Again a fee of £50 is required.
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