European Small Claims Court Procedure

Does anyone have experience of using the European Small Claims procedure jurisdiction England / Wales please? I have certain questions as I wish to start this procedure now against someone domiciled in UK but cannot get through at all to CAB Uk…so next step is to ask on here please. If anyone has any experience…thanks…

This link gives email for contact… maybe worth a try…

https://europa.eu/youreurope/business/sell-abroad/resolving-disputes/small-claims/index_en.htm

1 Like

Yes I have seen this…thank you. But I need further advice which is why I am asking on here…but thanking you for your response. Anyone had any dealings or know about the European Small Claims procedures. I need to ask certain questions please? It is quite urgent

Bank Holiday weekend in UK…

Really Graham? Gosh thank you for telling me - I had not realised! That makes a huge difference to my question then. Anyone with experience or knowledge about the European Small Claims Court procedure and regulations and whether it is up to 2k or 5k euros jurisdiction to be in England / Wales please get in touch. Many thanks!

Don’t ask me why but I downloaded this pdf yonks ago…
debt-collection-in-europe23012014.pdf (3.7 MB)

Question is whether I can take an individual who is normally resident in England and Wales domiciled with his family (so he lives there full time) to a small claims court under the auspices of England Wales jurisdiction. I am only an individual who has not been paid by this person who is attempting to simply walk away from payment by being ‘‘clever’’. I have all the proof and correspondence to prove the debt exists which is again confirmed by the correspondence written by the debtor himself. But I am not a company so therefore can I as an individual take another individual to the court as he is not a company either? Somewhat confused as it all seems to talk about companies or consumers but not individual. I am determined to not let him get away with it if it is the last thing I do on this earth as it is so very wrong. This person has a history of court action in varying countries and seems to enjoy trouble and strife and court action believe it or not!! This would be my first small claims court action as I do not look for trouble nor have any unlike the debtor involved but that is not really relevant even though taking court action is somewhat daunting for me.

Why can’t you just use the UK small claims procedure if defendant is UK resident - google ‘money claim on-line’ . Do you have a U.K. correspondence address (albeit temporary if necessary)?The process can be organised completely on-line.
You would have to attend court if defendant wishes to defend it but if as seems doesn’t have a leg to stand on then that’s unlikely. If not defended the court would give a judgement in your favour and then the means to collect, bailiffs, attachment of earnings, garnishee order are all organisable via the same on-line process. I have done it several times with non-payers.

1 Like

Dave Jones
Thanks for your reply which I only just saw so apologies for late response.
I dont have UK address…people are too worried to allow their address to be used in UK…I have no idea why as I would not have a problem allowing my address to be used. Cant be bothered to ask as I know already the answer…people are willing to accept help from me but not give me help when I need it. I know this so dont bother to ask for help.

So only choice is to do through Euro small claims and use my french address. I wanted to know if I can take an individual to Court through small claims Euro procedure seeing as individual is resident in UK? That is the main question that I have. Have all email correspondence in which individual even asking me for the bill and my bank account details so he can pay me and says he coesnt use cheques to pay me etc…then insists he will only use cheques lol…
Said person thinks I dont have his address in UK which he has kept secret even from his latest court action which by the way he lost big time. However I have all his details which is apparently amazing as barristers in his last court action could not find his address but I found it no problem.
The person I wish to sue is a tricky dicky person who has seen more courtroom action than Perry Mason if you remember him and has also lost big time in the courts too…
So can I go through Euro small claims from here making UK jurisdiction and take an individual through this process?,
Thanks for any advice…by the way there is a 6 year time to take the action and an 8 percent interest charge on debt.
I fully expect defendant to try to defend but it will be all cock and bull and as I know that I am innocent of any cock and bull he may try to lodge plus therefore he has no discernible proof no matter how much he tries to lie and wriggle out of this debt, I am unworried. But am worried about the fact that may not be able to take an individual to Court. Does anyone know? Please?

Stella’s link above seems to have all the information you need, and it does say that you can claim up to €5000.

There are two things said there once one looks closely at the link…one says 5k and the other says 2k…my claim i for 1,600 so no problem there either way. However no one is answering my question…Can I take an individual who is domiciled in England Wales through the European Small Claim Procedure to claim my money he owes me? Not a business but an individual…that is the question. From what I have read I think it must be a company but maybe I am wrong…can anyone advise on this please? Thank you…

Amanda… your question has been bandied about here on the Forum. We are a group of helpful folk… we can give you links etc… but we are not legal advisors.

In every town, there is a Cabinet where you can go for a free discussion on legal matters… why not ask at your Mairie for details of such… :relaxed:

Other than that, how about asking a solicitor in UK… it cannot cost a fortune to ask the question… and maybe free in the first instance…

good luck

Stella hi…I see no email contact in the link you kindly provided which I had looked at on google prior to posting this. So there is no one to ask there. Or please can you provide the email which you said is on that link so I can contact them as I cannot find it anywhere no matter how much I have searched. Maybe I have missed something you have seen though?
I do know about the local cabinets for free advice and the fact that a solicitor here in france will give first 30 minutes free as they do in the UK.
I already went that route on the phone with a solicitor in the UK and was told that they cannot answer as they dont know the case details. I only want to know if I can take an individual rather than a company through the European small claims jurisdiction England Wales.
As for the local once a month legal help, having used them once before and found them to be lazy, and not respond when they promised to, I am loathe to waste my time again there.
I am wanting to take this to England and Wales jurisdiction anyway so cant see what good it is to speak to a french lawyer.
So unless I can email or phone someone who knows and will give me a simple yes or no answer to my simple question or anyone on here knows then seems impossible to find out the answer…
I shall have to look up and try to find another solicitor in UK and phone them to ask again same question…hopefully better luck this time…
I realise no one here is a legal expert…just wondered if anyone had used the European small claim court and therefore knew the rules of it…ie can one take an individual to that court as opposed to a company. That is my sole question.
Seems no one on here has experience of the euro small claims court. Was worth a try though.
Thank you everyone for your kind responses.
Thanks to all…

Telephone number on here. Page 3

https://e-justice.europa.eu/fileDownload.do?id=1561ac8a-41fd-482c-ba42-7ed16180d541

This says “person or business”. Seems pretty clear to me (as a non-lawyer).

On the EU link… There is a form you fill-in asking for help… and they reply by email or phone… your choice…