>>Small Claims' Court - all you need to know

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Marion

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>>Small Claims' Court - all you need to know

Small Claims Procedure


The Small Claims procedure is an alternative method of commencing and dealing with a civil proceeding in respect of a small claim and is provided for under the District Court (Small Claims Procedure) Rules, 1997 & 1999. It is a service provided in your local District Court office and is designed to handle consumer claims cheaply without involving a solicitor. To be eligible to use the procedure, you, the "consumer" must have bought the goods or services for private use from someone selling them in the course of business. The procedure is not available for use by one business person against another.

A District Court Clerk, called the Small Claims Registrar, processes small claims. Where possible, the registrar will negotiate a settlement without the need for a court hearing. If the matter cannot be settled the registrar will bring your claim before the District Court.

The type of claims that can be dealt with are:

(a) a claim in respect of goods or services bought for private use from someone selling them in the course of a business (consumer claims)

(b) a claim in respect of minor damage to property (but excluding personal injuries)

(c) a claim for the non-return of a rent deposit for certain kinds of rented properties. For
example, a holiday home or a room / flat in a premises where the owner also lives provided that a claim does not exceed €2,000.


Note: Claims in respect of other matters relating to rented accommodation must be brought to:

Private Residential Tenancies Board,
Canal House, Canal Road, Ranelagh, Dublin 6.
Website: www.prtb.ie


Cost of making claim is €15


Excluded from the small claims procedure are claims arising from :
(a) a hire-purchase agreement
(b) a breach of a leasing agreement
(c) debts

The Small Claims Registrar (or his/her staff) will provide help and information to ensure your claim is appropriate to the small claims procedure. Details of the location of your local District Court Office are available in the District Court Offices section
Click to expand...
District Court Offices by County

http://www.courts.ie/offices.nsf/lookuppagelink/A539909F9D6CE9BA80256E7800364D06
Information taken from: Courts.ie
where you can find all the [broken link removed]
 
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Two questions about the Small Claims Court:
Does anybody know if only a single claim can be made in respect of a single contract - e.g. in the case of a two person holiday package can only a single joint claim be made or can two individual claims for €1,270 be made in respect of the one contract?</li><li>Bearing in mind that many Small Claims Court are seemingly settled before ending up in court does anybody know if/where case histories and judgements are available, preferably online? I couldn't find anything other than the claim procedures/forms on the Courts Service website.
Thanks.
 
I had a look yesterday for cases, but I couldn't find any on the courts' website. I also did a google search and found this book by Damian McHugh BL [broken link removed]

With regard to your first question, I think that it wouldn't be possible to make 2 separate/multiple claims from the one contract. This could potentially lead to a position whereby the multiple parties to any claim could as a group exceed the price of the product/service against which they were claiming if they were successful.

But, this is my opinion. I have no legal backup for this.

Marion :hat
 
Thanks for the information. I too would assume that only one claim per contract would be allowed but I will chase it up directly with the Small Claims Court when I get a chance and post back if necessary.

Fair point about enforcing the claim but the one I have in mind is against a (travel agency) company who are still trading and not likely to disappear any time soon and may have a lot to lose by having a judgement made against them and refusing to pay. In any case my understanding was that the Small Claims Court assist successful claimants to collect payment where the respondent does not pay up willingly.
 
A further thought on the multiple claim question. Who signed the booking form (contract) - one or two people?

If all parties signed then I suspect that each could apply independently as each was making a contract in their own right. But, I'm still only guessing.

Marion :hat
 
I've skimmed the relevant Small Claims Court legislation on the [broken link removed] and can't find any immediate clarification but I suspect that the signatory issue that Marion mentions could be key all right.
 
Re: >>Small Claims' Court - all you need to know

The Small Claims Court has just lodged a pilot scheme where consumers in participating areas can lodge their claims [broken link removed].

Brendan
 
Re: >>Small Claims' Court - all you need to know

Brendan said:
The Small Claims Court has just lodged a pilot scheme where consumers in participating areas can lodge their claims [broken link removed].

Brendan
Click to expand...


As justice is suppost to be administered in public, I wonder if we will be able to go into the site and have a good nosey round the claims and defences and the findings etc.

I attended the district and circuit courts once or twice in the past and found it most enjoyable. Unfortunately I havn't the time or the means of attending as often as I'd like.

If this system is online and available to the public I can see myself doing a lot of browsing. Will keep a special lookout for people I know, enemies, friends, workmates and neighbours etc. It'll be very interesting. Something to look forward to.


Murt
 
Re: >>Small Claims' Court - all you need to know

Does the small claims court deal with maintanence default? My ex partner and I split 5 years ago. We owned a house together, and I was desperately trying to buy him out, as we have a little boy too. The jigs and reels are. I could only come up with 60k instead of 80k. So we went to court and it was agreed, that he would get the 60k, the car, some furniture, and would pay me 50 euro maintainence for 3 years until the shortfall was paid..... after this the maintainence would be increased to 75 euro per week, I agreed to this because I didnt want to get even more stressed out.. This increase should have taken place last may, but he refuses to pay. He has built his own house and is employed and says I can do what I like. The thin is, my solicitor wont act for me because I owe her 600 euro, so I cant afford to take him back to court, so what can I do?
 
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