Small Claims - Transfer of Proceedings

[Jennance]

I am involved in a long dispute with DFS over a faulty sofa. I made a claim against DFS Trading Limited via the moneyclaim online service, and received notification that they are defending the claim and the claim had therefore been transferred from Northampton to my local county court in Portsmouth. I received an allocation questionnaire, which I completed and returned to Portsmouth County Court with the allocation fee.

 

I have just received a Notice of Transfer of Proceedings, stating that as a result of an order made on 9 November 2011, the claim has been transferred to Doncaster County Court. I presume this is because it is local to the DFS head office.

 

Based on the limited information available on the moneyclaim online and the HMCS website, I was under the impression that because the defendant is a company and not an individual, the case would be heard at my local court as I am an individual (even though I am the claimant). I haven't received any information as to why the case has been transferred, and when I completed the allocation questionnaire, I ticked the box to say there was no reason that I thought the claim should be transferred to another court. I assume DFS have ticked the box on their questionnaire to say that it should be transferred, but I haven't seen their reasoning for doing so and wasn't aware they had requested a transfer until now.

 

Is there anything I can do to get the case transferred back to Portsmouth; does the transfer mean a judge has looked at the documents and decided it should be heard in the defendant's local court? If there is nothing I can do to get the case back to Portsmouth, will I have to resend all the particulars up to Doncaster, or will Portsmouth forward them automatically?

 

If DFS think I'll drop the case because I'm not willing to travel to Doncaster then they are wrong - but I was intending to bring the sofa to court as evidence (if the judge permits), and now it's going to cost me a fortune in petrol.

[andydd]

I was under the same impression as you, that as you are an individual it will ber transfered to your local court (as indeed it was), I would of thought that someone could apply for it to be moved again but surely this would need a hearing of some sort (it appears these transfers are 'automatic' so prob not), or that you should be notified, I'm not sure of the actual rules governing this, but surely you can make an aplication to transfer it again pointing out the reasons you quoted, see here > http://www.consumerwiki.co.uk/index.php/Small_Claims_FAQ.

 

Now Im pretty ceratin that there must be CPR or PD (Practise Direction rules)that confirm the above, I'd suggest you find out which ones they are and write to the court and point out the defendant IS NOT an individual and therefore the case should NOT be transfered to his local court.

 

For any legal/action always have a good search of the CPR/PD rules they are there to help and to make cases flow smoothly

 

Andy

[Jennance]

Thanks for your response and for referring me to the Practice Directions. I'm a little frustrated not to have received any further information as to why the decision was made to transfer, so I suppose I will have to stew about it and wait until I can contact the court on Monday. I've read through the relevant PD rules I can find and assume it will come under this one:

 

Automatic transfer

 

26.2

 

(1) This rule applies to proceedings where –

(a) the claim is for a specified amount of money;

 

(b) the claim was commenced in a court which is not the defendant’s home court;

 

© the claim has not been transferred to another defendant’s home court under rule 13.4 (application to set aside or vary default judgment – procedure) or rule 14.12 (admission – determination of rate of payment by judge); and

 

(d) the defendant is an individual.

 

 

 

The strange thing is that Moneyclaim online (Northampton) saw fit to automatically allocate the case to my local court once a defence was submitted by DFS, even though I am the claimant. Thus supporting the theory that it isn't transferred to the defendant's local court where they are not an individual. But Portsmouth seem to have other ideas now we have both completed our allocation questionnaires; I'm hoping it's just some sort of admin error where they've automatically transferred to the defendant but I'm concerned about the "as a result of an order made" part of the notice, which seemingly implies it isn't just an automatic transfer and has been made on the basis of something DFS have requested. Further reading of the PDs goes on to say that the judge can make a transfer based on a number of different factors relating to the case, so I'll have to find out on what grounds (if any) it has been done. Thanks again for your help.

[andydd]

Is your claim for a set amount ?..*i.e Part (a).

 

Andy

[Jennance]

Yes it is for a set amount; the original cost of the sofa plus the initial cost of the proceedings, which I believe was an extra £80. But I think under 26.2 (d), the automatic transfer rule does not apply, so unless there has been a mistake then I have to assume that there is some other justification for the transfer, hopefully I will be able to find out on Monday by speaking to the court.

[andydd]

Yes..but which court is it actually 'in' now ?. Ive found that popping along to my local court often got my helpful advice, I somehow doubt the Nottingham Bulk center will be as helpful.

 

Andy

[Jennance]

It's gone from Northampton (bulk center), to Portsmouth (my local), and I then received the notice yesterday that an order was made on 9th November to transfer to Doncaster (DFS local). So I will need to contact Portsmouth to find out why they transferred it to Doncaster, and then depending on the reasons I would then have to contact Doncaster to request that it be transferred back.