Serving papers and going to court...

bobbysands81

I know this is a very general question but generally how much time would you expect to lapse between serving papers on a company and going to court?

johnnyskeleton

It depends on what kind of action.

For example, if you are suing them in an ordinary tort/contract case in the HC, you would first serve a summons on them, then have have time to enter an appearance, usually followed by a statement of claim, then they have time to issue a defence and/or counterclaim, and if anything arises out of that you should issue a reply. There might be other matters such as discovery or interloqutory injunctions and then either party will serve notice of trial. The matter can then be set down for trial, and it goes into a list to fix dates. This is called the pleadings stage and it can take quite a while - 6 months to over a year.

When it goes into the list to fix dates, there will usually be way more cases that want to get on than there are trial dates (especially in the non-jury list) so it might go through a couple of lists to fix dates before it is given a trial date (there is usually 1 list to fix dates in each legal term). The trial date will usually be in the next legal term or in following one. At the moment there are about 500 cases looking for a hearing date, and in any given term they might only deal with 50/60 of those cases.

The procedures are less complicated in the circuit courts, and depending on how busy the circuit is, it can come on much quicker or it could get lost in the oblivion.

For an application to wind up a company, examinership or some other action of that kind, I believe it can come on much quicker because those hearings are usually shorter and more technical.

So basically, it can take any amount of time, but in circumstances where both parties co-operate and there are no other significant delays, I would say it could take maybe 2 years in the High Court. However, if someone said it can be done in less than a year or that it can take 4 years, those are not beyond the realms of possibility.

bobbysands81

Thanks for your response.

I am actually suing builders who have not sound proofed my home to the required minimum standards so I guess I would be suing for breach of contract. It is causing me a lot of undue stress and sleepless nights.

I am expecting a long drawn out case but I am more than happy to go down this route as I have exhausted all other avenues.

Obviously the quicker the better but if this is how long it takes then so be it.

445279.ie

Depends on where in the country you're planning on suing them. Lists for court vary from area to area

Jo King

A lot of building contracts contain an arbitration clause. If this is the case the builder may apply to have the action stayed under s5 of the Arbitration Act 1954. Arbitration clauses often have a time limit within which an arbitration can be commenced.

bobbysands81

Jo King wrote:

A lot of building contracts contain an arbitration clause. If this is the case the builder may apply to have the action stayed under s5 of the Arbitration Act 1954. Arbitration clauses often have a time limit within which an arbitration can be commenced.

Never heard of that before...

I'm in the Dublin area.