Going to court is, by general acknowledgment, a bad plan in Ireland. People go to great lengths to avoid it. Not only can it be extraordinarily time consuming, it is widely understood to be prohibitively expensive.
Justice, we are told, aims to be even-handed, fair and impartial and most people would agree that is the case when you actually get before a judge. But the scales of justice are anything but balanced when it comes to access to the system in the first place. Deep pockets confer a disproportionate – and occasionally intimidatory – advantage when it comes to dispute resolution, with one side knowing they can easily fund a court action while the other is all too aware they can ill afford the uncertainty of open-ended legal costs.
But there is one option readily and affordably available to everyone in the State – the Small Claims Court.
So what sort of dispute can you bring to the court, how does it work and how much does it cost?
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You can submit a case if a dispute arises over a good or service you acquired that was not delivered as agreed, over minor damage to your property or a deposit paid for a holiday home or to rent a room.
So maybe you bought something from a store but it arrived damaged or not as advertised and they refused to replace it or refund your money. Or you hired a painter to do a job but it was only half done.
The key things are that both you and the person you are making a claim against must be based in Ireland and the amount of money involved in the claim has to be less than €2,000.
Any claim has to be made by the person who is at a loss – so you cannot claim on behalf of a parent, for example, and the claim has to be lodged within six years of the issue arising.
Finally, you can only claim for the actual financial loss, so your claim cannot include sums for the time you spent pursuing the issue, for any costs incurred in that pursuit, such as a report from an expert assessor, and for things like emotional distress.
There are also specific areas that are excluded from the court, such as disputes over cover or payouts under an insurance policy, personal injury claims, disagreements over a hire purchase or leasing agreement and claims against Government bodies, although local councils are fair game.
Claim over debts, such as rent, loans or invoices will not be entertained, nor will disputes over rental deposits unless it is a holiday home or the landlord lives on the premises.
If the goods or service you are claiming for were bought under a private or informal arrangement – perhaps via an online forum or message board rather than a store or business, you may find your claim struck out.
Over the last eight years for which figures are available, an average of just under 3,000 cases are lodged with the Small Claims Court every year.
Making a claim
Making a claim is fairly straightforward but it is important that you have first attempted to resolve the issue with the other party. If that does not succeed, put your complaint to them in writing.
In doing so, keep it clear. Date the letter or email, make sure you include your contact details, what you purchased (with an order or reference number if you have one), when and from whom. Name the company your dispute is with, the details of the issue that has arisen with the good or service and, if you have it (and you should) a copy of any receipt.
Finally, make clear what you are looking for by way of resolving the problem.
If you don’t get a reply or you are unhappy with any reply, you need to let the person know in writing again – by letter or email – that you intend to take them to the Small Claims Court.
Small claims are processed by small claims registrars in District Court offices which are dotted around the State. The first thing you need to find out is which court you will be dealing with and this is, without doubt, the most fiddly part of the process.
This will be either where the purchase or contract was made, where any damage occurred or where the registered business address is. For online purchase, the registered business address is the key.
Once you have an address – ideally an Eircode – open this map of District Court areas. You’ll see to the left a series of layers each of which has an “eye” icon to its right. You want to “open” only the eye icons of District Court districts and the District Court area layers.
In the search bar to the top right of the screen, input the eircode of the business. This will show you which district you need to apply to. Click on the district name and it will throw the related courts up in a panel on the left-hand side of the screen. If you then input this court in the Courts Service courtfinder page, it will give you the physical and email addresses of the court and the phone number.
You can make a claim online, in which case you will need to register for the service at this page, selecting “public registered user” from the drop down menu, or in person at the relevant court.
For your claim, you’ll need your own personal and contact details, the details of the person or company you are claiming against and details of what happened, how you tried to resolve it and receipts or quotes for repair, stating the specific amount you are claiming.
Once you submit your application, it will reviewed by the local small claims registrar. Assuming it is approved, you’ll be contacted by email to pay the €25 fee for any small claim. This fee cannot be added to the cost of your claim.
If you are filing the claim in person, you’ll need to pay the fee with your application before review.
The small claims registrar will contact both sides by phone, letter, or email and try to settle the claim without going to court. The respondent (the person or company against whom you are claiming) has 15 days to respond.
If the claim cannot be resolved, it will go forward for hearing before a judge in the District Civil Court and you will be notified in advance on when and where that is taking place.
We’ll come back at a later date on what happens if your claim involves someone outside the State and also what happens if the other side simply ignores the proceedings or fails to pay any amount the court decides in your favour.
You can contact us at OnTheMoney@irishtimes.com with personal finance questions you would like to see us address. If you missed last week’s newsletter, you can read it here.
