Unliquidated damages in the District Court?

littlemac1980

Is it possible to issue a civil summons for unliquidated damages in the District Court?

jblack

Flowing from what? e.g breach of contract where no LDs clause

littlemac1980

Yes, or breach of confidence for example.

dermot_sheehan

yes, provided less then €6,350 is claimed.

Breach of confidence is a tort, and the tort must have been committed within the relevant district court district or the defendant must reside in the relevant district court district.

littlemac1980

Ok, thanks. Sorry, I think unnecessarily confused matters slightly. I should have used the word compensation instead of damages for the example I gave, but I think it hasn't affected your understanding anyway. Let me rephrase my query slightly, because I can make it a bit clearer.

I don't think its possible to claim for 'compensation' without stating an actual amount claimed, instead of claiming for 'compensation in the amount of €5000' for example.

The reason I don't think its possible is because, the summons must state the amount of costs payable if paid within ten days, and the amount of costs payable are scaled according to the amount of compensation claimed.

Also the purpose of the summons appears to be to notify the defendant of a claim, and to allow them to admit the claim and pay a stated amount with costs, and therefore avoid the necessity of going to court.

So, therefore it appears to me that one must quantify on the face of the summons, the amount claimed even in a case for something like breach of confidence.

However, having reviewed all the material I have available to me, e.g. District Court Rules, Woods, Law Soc Manual, I can't see it stated clearly anywhere that such is the case, and it would have been easy to mention such a necessity.

So I was wondering if it is possible to claim for compensation, without stating any amount on the face of the summons?

dermot_sheehan

It is, again provided damages of less than €6,350 are claimed.

damages are assessed by the district court judge but the amount claimed must be less than the district court's jurisdiction which is €6,350.

The district court rules gives an option for a defendant to settle a case by paying the plaintiff's claim and the relevant amount of costs from the district court costs scale.

So if a plaintiff sues for damages for tort not exceeding €6,350, the defendant has an option of paying the plaintiff €6,350 +€237.44 costs to avoid the case being heard.

If the defendant doesn't do this, he can contest the claim by filling a notice of intention to defend, in which case the plaintiff must prove his cause of action and his damages at trial in front of a judge.

If he doesn't serve a notice of intention to defend, he's taken to have admitted the claim, and the plaintiff brings the proceedings in front of a judge to assess damages.


The amount of costs awarded depends on the amount the district court decree is for and the relevant scaled costs figure.

Tom Young

Would be most interested to see a Breach of Confidence run in Court. As its recognition is quite new.

dats_right

The District Court has no equitable jurisdiction. Would breach of confidence come under that?

jblack

My understanding is that it is actionable under equity and therefore the DC would have no jurisdiction to hear the claim.

dermot_sheehan

Although originally a creature of equity, I think it has been recognised as a tort and therefore the district court would have jurisdiction to hear a claim for damages under s. 77 of the Courts of Justice Act, 1924.

This has never been litigated as far as I know breach of confidence actions have been brought in the Circuit Court or High Court.