Where to start a money claim: High Court or County Court (PD 7A, para 2.1)
Marcus Delaney, the finance director of Pennine Steel Supplies Ltd, instructs a solicitor to recover £85,000 owed by a customer for steel delivered and invoiced. The customer has raised a dispute about some of the invoices. Marcus would like the claim issued in the High Court, which he believes will put more pressure on the customer, and he says the dispute is commercially important to his company. The claim is not a personal injury claim and no enactment requires it to be issued in a particular court.
In which court should the claim be started?
Choose one answer to see the reasoning.
Worked answer
Correct answer E: The County Court, because only money claims worth more than £100,000 may be started in the High Court.
THE RULE TO REMEMBER
A money claim may only be started in the High Court if its value is more than £100,000 (£50,000 or more for personal injury).
Where to start a money claim: High Court or County Court (PD 7A, para 2.1)
Paragraph 2.1 of Practice Direction 7A provides that proceedings, whether for damages or for a specified sum, may only be started in the High Court if the value of the claim is more than £100,000. Pennine's claim is for £85,000, so it must be started in the County Court, whatever Marcus's views about pressure or commercial importance. Paragraph 2.4 lists factors, such as financial value, complexity and public importance, that may make it appropriate to start a claim in the High Court, but that paragraph is expressly subject to paras 2.1 and 2.2. The County Court has unlimited financial jurisdiction in contract claims of this kind, and the claim can later be transferred if appropriate.
Why A is wrong: £25,000 is the upper limit of the fast track, not the threshold for starting proceedings in the High Court.
Why B is wrong: £50,000 is the threshold for personal injury claims in the High Court (para 2.2), not for other money claims.
Why C is wrong: Para 2.1 prevents a claim of £100,000 or less from being started in the High Court, so the claimant has no free choice.
Why D is wrong: The para 2.4 factors apply only to claims that are already above the para 2.1 threshold.
A little more practice done.
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