Taking a dispute to the small claims court Using the Sheriff Court in Scotland
How to bring a claim in the sheriff court
1. Explore all the options
Before you start a small claims court case, you must have tried to resolve your dispute in other ways. You may need to show the judge what you have done to try and settle the dispute, so gather letters, and notes of phone calls with the person you're in dispute with, and evidence of any other steps you have taken to try and resolve the problem.
2. Investigate the process
Visit the Scottish Courts website for more information about the process, and for copies of the small claims form, known as the summons. Send a letter to the defender (the person or organisation your claim is against) giving them a final chance to settle. Set a deadline for a response, and warn that if you don't hear from them, or they won't deal with your problem, you will bring legal proceedings.
3. Fill in the forms
If you don't get a satisfactory response, collect a summons form from your local court and complete it. You need to have the full name and address of the defendant. If it is a company, you will need to give the address of its registered office. If you can't find this you could use a trading address instead.
You will need to give full details of your claim and the sum you are claiming. You can also include documents that you think could help to prove your claim.
Once you have completed it take it to your local court to submit it. The defender will be 'served' your claim by the court – you cannot do it yourself.
4. Wait for a reply
When the summons is accepted by the court, they set a return day and a hearing day. If the defender disagrees with your claim, they must send a written response to the court by the return date, which is at least seven days prior to the initial court hearing. The initial hearing will be roughly six weeks after the summons is lodged (submitted to the court).
You should contact the court to find out about the defender's response just after the return date.
5. Initial hearing
If the defender contests your claim there's an initial hearing. No evidence or witnesses are used at this stage. The sheriff will see if the matter can be resolved, but if it can't, a continued hearing date is set.
6. Continued hearing
The clerk of the court will call both parties into the room where the hearing is to take place, and both sides will put their case to the sheriff. This will include providing evidence and using witnesses if relevant. Any evidence you want to use needs to be submitted 14 days before the hearing.
The sheriff will give their decision, or if they want to consider the matter further they will send you their decision in writing within 28 days.
7. Resolution
If you win your case, the defender will have to pay you any amount the court has decided is due. This amount can also include expenses. If the claim is for less than £200, the judge will not normally award any expenses. Where the claim is for more than £200, you can claim for your court fee, any loss of wages and travel expenses. However, there is a maximum that can be awarded. For claims between £200 and £1500 the maximum normally awarded is £150 and for claims between £1500 and £3000 the maximum will normally be 10% of the total claim.
If the defender doesn't pay the money due, the court cannot help you enforce the order. You can employ a sheriff officer to do this, but you will have to pay them.
