small claims track wasted time costs???

[paul2591]

Any advice gratefully received.

 

I had a contract lease hire car for 2 years from a company, when the car was returned I received a further bill for about £900 which I disputed however they proceeded to instruct solicitors to pursue the matter which they did through the Small Claims Track.

 

Fast forward 2 years and they have now served a Notice of Discontinuance (N279) 7 days before we were due to attend court. As you can imagine I have spent a lot of time and some money preparing and filing court documents etc, but as I understand it I cannot claim any costs for wasted time.

 

So is there anything I can do to recover any costs, can I claim for damages, or do I just smile knowing its cost them a lot more than me.

[AndyOrch]

Wasted costs are not applicable in Small Claims Track...

 

Liability for costs

 

CPR 38.6

 

(1) Unless the court orders otherwise, a claimant who discontinues is liable for the costs which a defendant against whom the claimant discontinues incurred on or before the date on which notice of discontinuance was served on the defendant.

(2) If proceedings are only partly discontinued –

(a) the claimant is liable under paragraph (1) for costs relating only to the part of the proceedings which he is discontinuing; and

(b) unless the court orders otherwise, the costs which the claimant is liable to pay must not be assessed until the conclusion of the rest of the proceedings.

(3) This rule does not apply to claims allocated to the small claims track.

 

Regards

 

Andy