I run my own small business, last year I was taken to small claims court by a customer. Now I'm not going to go into major details as it may have legal implications, but needless to say I and many others thought I didn't have a case to answer.
Basically I started a job for a customer asked for a stage payment, customer kept promising payment but that payment was never forthcoming so I didn't continue, 3 years later I get a message asking if the work has been completed, ummm no!
Asked the customer to collect his project, he turned up refused to take it claiming I had ruined it, now the project in question was photographed when I started and was exactly the same then as it was now.
The next thing I get is a letter from the small claims court, customer claiming money because he felt that the project was no longer restorable, bearing in mind he had been aware of it condition from the start , actually was aware before it arrived as that's why it was with me!
So it finally gets to the small claims court, I was sat there thinking that the judge would judge it on the issue raised bt the claimant about the fact it was no longer restorable but no the judge went of on his own merry way and awarded the claimant the case he didn'tget his full amount but got money he never paid me in the first place, I was left in shock, my business friends all said the same that anything under a thousand is a win for a small business , though they knew I had done nothing wrong they had a strong feeling I would not win!!
So how is this? Now the small claims court is a bit of a joke, I know realise!!
There is no requirement to prove any evidence , in my case the claimant changed his statement 3 times! Despite my attempt I was not allowed to reply to his last statement, the courts don't reply promptly to any correspondence, I have asked what law was used and what I was charged with, but I have had no reply.
I did attempt to under the freedom of information act try to see how successful small businesses are at defending cases but was stopped from getting the information under section 53, it seems that they don't want certain information to be released as I suspect it will show that there is little to no chance of a small business successfully defending a small claim.
So my advice is if you are a small business and if you can keep it under a thousand pounds I would avoid the small claims court.
It is clear is it has been set up in favour of the general public and is a witch hunt!
