Not so small

The court can now “track down” a civil claim without the consent of the parties by amendment to CPR 27.7. This appears to mean, for example, that a claim for £12,000 could be allocated to the small claims track whether the parties like it or not. Are we likely to find that claims which are only modestly over the new normal small claims £10,000 limit or modestly over the £1,000 limit for personal injury claims will be tracked down? Does the new regime not disadvantage a party who has used lawyers believing that his costs would be recoverable if he won only to find that he is limited to small claims restricted costs?

The removal of CPR 27.7(3)—which had required the parties’ consent to track down from fast to small claims—has given greater flexibility to district judges on allocation. Even so, it is generally unlikely that a claim will be tracked down purely on the