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Summary of Selected Cases
LORD CHANCELLOR'S DEPARTMENT
8. Case No. C.141/99
Administrative error by the Court Service (CS) in the operation of the small claims arbitration procedure; also delay by the Legal Aid Board (LAB) in determining an application for legal aid
In October 1996 Mrs A issued a summons in the county court in a negligence claim; she limited the claim to £3,000 so that it could be dealt with by arbitration. In November the court received a defence to the claim and should then have referred the case to the district judge to give an estimate of the time to be allowed for an arbitration hearing or, if so minded, to direct that the case should instead be tried in open court. However, the court wrongly issued directions for a trial without reference to the judge. Mrs A took the directions to refer to arbitration and continued with the case on that understanding until March 1997, when she applied for legal aid. In April the judge confirmed at a pre-trial hearing that the case was not suitable for arbitration. In September LAB informed Mrs A that she was financially ineligible for legal aid. The Ombudsman criticised CS for having failed to refer the case to the judge in good time and the Legal Aid Assessment Office for having mistakenly treated Mrs A's legal aid application as abandoned between May and July 1997. He found that CS's maladministration had contributed to a situation in which Mrs A had incurred costs which she might otherwise have avoided. CS agreed to reimburse 50 per cent of Mrs A's reasonable costs. The Chief Executive of LAB apologised for the delay by the Legal Aid Assessment Office.
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