Small claims court timeframes, registar altering the rules

SMERSH

Hypothetical situation folks.

A small claim was submitted online at the end of September and the claim was served on the respondent on the 1st of October. The respondent had 15 days according to the rules to enter a response i.e. a defence. After 15 days the claimant may seek a summary or default judgement against the respondent. The respondent in this case did not file a response with the time allowed.

The claimant contacts the small claims registrar 21 days after service of the complaint with a view to obtaining a summary judgement and is told that he has to allow 4 to 6 weeks for the respondent to respond and only then may he seek a summary judgement.

Questions:

1. Can the registrar ignore the 15 day limit set out in statute law? Can he extend the time allowed for a defence to be filed where no response has been received from the respondent? Can he make the claimant wait long beyond the statutory period before allowing him to apply for a judgement?

2. Can the claimant who is unhappy with the registrar’s response do anything about the situation?

I am not seeking legal advice and I will not take any replies received as legal advice.

dermot_sheehan

Hypothetically one would swear an affidavit of debt and file it with the court in accordance with Order 53A Rule 11 of the District Court Rules:

http://www.courts.ie/rules.nsf/0c609d7abff72c1c80256d2b0045bb64/5086944af36039ec802572980050cea4?OpenDocument

Our man in Havana

What if they won't accept that, esp if he is not following the rules?

How legally can the registrar deviate from the district court rules?

Yggr of Asgard

Let's say a Hypothetically (not really existing) registrar sits down on his imaginary desk and composes a message that he likes to run this process different by giving the Respondent four to six weeks to respond to the claim. And saying After that period you may apply to me for Summary Judgement against the Respondent.

Now what should the receiver of such news do if he would exist?

johnnyskeleton

dublin-texas wrote: »

Let's say a Hypothetically (not really existing) registrar sits down on his imaginary desk and composes a message that he likes to run this process different by giving the Respondent four to six weeks to respond to the claim. And saying After that period you may apply to me for Summary Judgement against the Respondent.

Now what should the receiver of such news do if he would exist?

In the real courts, even though there are strict time limits for the service of certain pleadings, the reality is that if the they are not adhered to the courts will often give an extension of time. This is because if they stuck blindly to the time limits, a person could come back with a genuine excuse for not having the document and the whole process would have to start again. Perhaps the registrar is simply being more realistic by not imposing the strict time limits.

Four to six weeks is not a long time. If I were such a person I'd wait it out.