Court of Appeal slams lower court for failing to control small claim

The Court of Appeal has come down hard on a judge who allowed a small claim to be transferred to the multi-track on the basis of a spurious counterclaim. On the small claims track solicitors’ costs are not normally recoverable, unlike on the multi-track.
 

Facts of the case
 

Mr Peakman brought proceedings against Linbrooke Services to recover £2,232.40. Linbrooke contested the claim, making a basic counterclaim in response to the claim and a more substantial counterclaim which it valued in the region of £30,000 to £40,000. As a consequence of the more substantial counterclaim the matter was allocated to the multi-track.
On the first day of the trial, Mr Peakman argued that the substantial counterclaim should be struck out on the basis that it had no chance of success. However, Linbrooke persisted with it, despite there being no evidence to substantiate it, and was