No reply to my claim form

What should I do?

This section will help you if the person you are claiming against (the defendant) does not reply to your claim. What to do depends on whether your claim is for:

a fixed sum of money (a specified amount); or
an amount which is not fixed (an unspecified amount).

An unspecified amount of money is one which is not precise. If, for example, you are claiming damages (compensation) for loss or injury, you might not be in a position to work out exactly what those damages are. You might, however, believe that the amount of damages you are likely to recover will not exceed a figure within the small claims limit. This would be a claim for an unspecified amount.

Please remember court staff are not advocates and are not able to provide you with advice.

The defendant has not replied to my claim for a specified amount of money, what do I do?

If the coroner served your particulars of claim in, or with, the claim form, a notice of service will be given or sent to you. The notice of service shows the date the claim was served on the defendant.

If the claim was sent by post, the date of service is taken as the second day after posting (see postmark for posting date). If the claim form was delivered or left at the defendant's address, the date of service will be the day after it was delivered.

The defendant then has 14 days to reply. You must wait until after this date before you can take any action.

If the defendant does not reply to your claim, you can ask the court to enter judgment. That is, make an order that the defendant pay you the amount you have claimed because no reply has been received.

You should do this as soon as possible after the 14 days have passed. Until the court receives your request to enter judgment, the defendant can still reply to your claim. If the court receives the defendant’s reply before your request is processed, that reply will have priority even though it has been filed late.

How does the defendant pay?

Before you fill out the form asking the court to enter judgment (HC7A - Request for a Judgment (Word doc) (PDF)) you must decide how you want the defendant to pay the amount owing. You may want the amount to be paid immediately, however you may wish to consider if you will be more likely to get the money if you allow the defendant to pay by instalments over a period of time. This will depend on the defendant’s circumstances.

Once you have decided how you would like to be paid, complete the request form (there are guidance notes on the form to help you) and send or take it to the court. A copy of the notice of service or certificate of service must accompany your form or the application will not be processed until it has been filed.

What will the court do with my request for judgment?

The court will use the information on your request to make and issue a judgment. If you have requested execution to issue at the same time then the court will issue judgment and execution.

The judgment will tell the defendant:

what the judgment (& execution) is for;
how much to pay; and
when to pay it.

The court will then send a copy of the judgment to you and to the defendant. Where judgment and execution is issued, the original of the judgment and execution will be placed at the court office Public Counter for collection by you. You should then give the judgment and execution to the coroner of your sheading (area), who will attempt to recover the amount of the judgment for you. There may be a fee for this. A judgment payable by instalments is not enforceable by a coroner; it is a matter between you and the defendant.

The judgment will be recorded on the Register of Judgments. For more information please refer to the section Registered judgments - what does it mean?. You may view the Register of Judgments at the Court office/public counter.

Please note if you do not request judgment within six months of the end of the period for filing a defence, your claim will be ‘stayed’ (stopped or halted) and the only action you could take would be to apply to a judge for an order lifting the stay.

What do I do if my claim was for an unspecified sum and the defendant has not replied?

If your claim was for an unspecified amount, complete form HC7B – Request for Judgment (Word doc) (PDF). Use this form to ask the court to enter a judgment against the defendant for an amount to be decided by the court and costs.

When your request is received by the courts the court file will be referred to a judge.

The judge will decide:-

whether a court hearing is necessary; and
what you need to do to help the judge make a decision as to the amount of money you are entitled to, for example what evidence you should provide.

This is called giving ‘directions’. Once the judge has made a decision, you and the defendant will be sent an order. This order will say that you are entitled to judgment on liability and will set out any other directions the judge has given.

What will happen at the directions hearing?

If the judge did not give directions and listed the matter for a directions hearing you will receive a notice of what date and time the hearing is to take place. All parties are expected to attend.

At the hearing the judge will give directions for trial which may include the filing of witness statements, expert’s reports etc. These documents are for the assistance of the court in coming to a decision about the case.

A date for the final hearing will also be set at the directions hearing so you should be aware of your future availability to attend any further hearings.

For further information on coming to court please refer to section I am coming to a Court hearing, what do I need to know?

What if the defendant does not pay?

If the defendant does not pay, it is up to you to ask the court to take further action, called ‘enforcing the judgment’.

There are different ways you can try to enforce the judgment, namely:

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