Recovering court fee when making a MCOL claim

[Ethel Street]

Just a general question, is the court fee you have to pay when you make a claim against someone using MCOL recoverable (if your claim is successful obviously)? I'm wondering whether to make an MCOL claim against a company which would cost me the MCOL miminum £25 to bring. The actual amount I would claim is actually less than £25 hence me wondering if I'd get the £25 MCOL fee back in addition to what the company owes me. (You may well wonder why I'd bother! Long story I won't go into right now - essentially that the high-handed and arrogant way the organisation has treated my complaint just makes me want to not let the b*****s get away with it! But not to the extent of being further out of pocket if I win than before I started)

[citizenB]

Your court costs are added to the value of the claim when you issue it, I think ? However, I will have someone confirm for you.

[richard_se11]

You would need to plead the court costs as part of your suit. With the Claim fee of £25 and Hearing fee £25 you have already spent double what the case is worth (more if other applications have to be made).

If you sue the defendant for £x plus costs of £50 (claim fee and hearing fee), you win the case, have acted in accordance with any pre-action protocols then the judge may order the defendant to pay that fee. If s/he considers that the case is frivolous that you are wasting the court’s time and any hearing is not in accordance with the overriding objective of the court s/he won’t.

I suppose the question is: is it reasonable to spend twice as much as you are suing for.

[steampowered]

Court fees will generally be awarded against the unsuccessful party. If you claimed for less than 20, you should still be awarded all court fees if you win the case. You would need to make sure you follow the proper pre-action procedure - i.e. sending a letter before claim asking them to pay the money else you will give court action, giving 14 days for a response.

[Ethel Street]

Thanks all. In the meantime this morning I just got an email from the organisation refunding my money after all so the MCOL question is now academic, but useful to know for another time or anyone else reading.

[citizenB]

Pleased to hear you have received your money back, Ethel