26th
July 2007
Bar
to Justice Should be Raised – McNeil
The “prohibitively low” ceiling on
the value of claims which can be determined by the Small Claims Court in
Scotland is denying people justice and should be raised, says to MSP for
Greenock and Inverclyde, Duncan McNeil.
He
has made representations to Justice Minister, Kenny MacAskill, branding the
current system a, “cowboys’ charter” and calling for the limit in Scotland
to be brought into line with the ceiling south of the border.
The
current upper limit on the value of claims which can be determined by the Small
Claims Court in Scotland is £750. In
England and Wales, the small claims ceiling is £5000.
This
means, Mr McNeil told the Minister, that, “any member of the public in
Scotland wishing to pursue a loss in excess of £750 will therefore be obliged
to embark on the expensive, lengthy and uncertain course of engaging the
services of a lawyer.” The
inability to do so, he argued, is denying justice to many individuals with
perfectly valid claims.
Mr
McNeil continued:
“This
limit, I believe, needs to be revisited. Today,
claims for, say, damage to a vehicle done by a negligent motor mechanic could
easily run into thousands of pounds. Another topical example is that of unfair bank charges, which
I have been assisting many constituents to recover and which regularly amount to
several thousand pounds. In these
cases, the threat of a small claims action of up to £5,000 in England is
considerably more of an encouragement to the bank to settle than the prospect of
a £750 action in Scotland.
“It
is doubtless for these reasons that the current system has been described as a
‘cowboys’ charter’ and I am concerned that many would-be pursuers with
perfectly valid claims are being denied justice. Accordingly, I would be most grateful for your assurance that
action will be taken to raise this prohibitively low ceiling and bring us into
line with England.”
In
response to these representations, the Minister has advised Mr McNeil that he
is, “considering the issue and will make an announcement in due course.”
“There
is,” he continued, “a need to ensure that whatever is done to these
thresholds, they are updated to a sensible level which serves the needs of users
of the court system and which will have the support of the Parliament.”
Welcoming
this signal that the Executive may agree to the change, Mr McNeil told the Telegraph:
“I
am glad that the Minister acknowledges that this limit needs to be re-visited.
It is far too low to let the Small Claims Court do the job for which it
was intended and it is denying justice to people who have been wronged.”
Case Study
Mr McNeil made representations to the
Minister after being contacted by a constituent, Mr Brian Holmes of Aberdour
Place, Inverkip.
While
work was being carried out on Mr Holmes’ £9000 car under warranty, it
sustained damage which will cost £2,000 to repair.
The companies in question, however, simply refused to reimburse Mr
Holmes.
Mr
Holmes said:
“Mine
was exactly the sort of case for which the Small Claims Court was made.
But the £750 ceiling meant I couldn’t take it there.
Instead, I would have needed to bring full legal proceedings and I was
advised that, while I had a strong case for damages, I could have been looking
at a legal bill for between £9,000 and £10,000.
“Sums
of that nature might be nothing to a large company, but what ordinary
hardworking person would be prepared to risk it?”
ENDS
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