Decoding the Sheriff Court Process

Decoding the Sheriff Court Process: Civil Cases in Scotland

Most people think of Sheriff Court as dealing with criminal cases.  This is often what is shown on television programs and crime novels.  The breadth of jurisdiction that the Sheriff Court has in civil matters is wide-ranging and its process can seem daunting to the general public.  We hope the summary below will help in your understanding of the Sheriff Court.

Types of cases that Sheriff Court deals with

The Sheriff Court deals with an extremely broad range of cases in criminal and civil matters such as family, divorce, adoption, guardianships, personal injury, insolvency, declaration of Death where someone is missing and presumed to be dead, commercial and consumer disputes.

The Sheriff Court also acts as an Appeal Court in relation to a plethora of Statutory Appeals such as Licensing Appeals, Firearms Appeals, or appealing the decision of regulatory bodies such as the Scottish Social Services Council and The General Teaching Council.

Gilson Gray have experience of dealing with all types of actions in the Sheriff Court.

Presenting Your Case

Much of civil procedure requires the early provision of information in writing, generally known as pleadings.  These pleadings dictate the scope of evidence that the parties to a civil Court case are able to lead in the event that matters proceed to an evidential hearing.  It is important to ensure that the pleadings in each case contain sufficient facts and a basis in law for a party to seek or oppose the remedy sought.  Whilst it is possible for parties to represent themselves in civil proceedings, the rules of procedure can be complex and at times prescriptive.  With matters of any importance, parties are generally best instructing an experienced Solicitor to represent their interest.

Time Limit

Many Court cases have a time limit in which a case may be brought.  It is important that early advice is sought if you believe you have a cause of action.

It is even more important, if you received court papers, to obtain legal advice as soon as possible as there is a short time limit (i.e. the notice period) for you to decide whether you wish to defend the action or not.  If you do nothing during the notice period, Court orders can pass without you having an opportunity to be heard.  Depending on the type of the court case, it may impact your credit score.

If you find out that there is a court order against you, there is limited opportunity for you to ask the Court for a chance to defend the case.  If you find yourself in this situation, it’s best to seek legal advice immediately.

Court Process

Once the parties are engaged in the court process, there is an opportunity to work on your written pleadings to ensure they are in order before an evidential hearing or hearing on legal arguments.  The first hearing (i.e. Options Hearing) is designed to determine subsequent procedures.  If the written pleadings are ready, the court will usually set a date for an evidential hearing.  The evidential hearing is the final hearing where the Sheriff will make a decision on the facts and law.  At this hearing, you will need to bring witnesses or documents to prove the facts within the written pleadings.  You may not be able to provide any evidence to the court if it is not within the written pleadings.  This in turn may make or break a case.  Accordingly, there needs to be much thought and preparation taken when preparing the pleadings of a case.

Judicial Expenses

After the Sheriff makes a decision, the successful party may be awarded judicial expenses against the unsuccessful party.  However, there are certain circumstances where that award may not be made or may be reduced.  The granting of this award of expenses is always within the discretion of the Sheriff.  The judicial expenses are awarded on a set scale of expenses, which may require the approval of the Auditor of the Court.  This means that there will be some time before you will know how much judicial expenses you can recover from the unsuccessful party.

Before embarking upon litigation in the Sheriff Court, it is important to take proper professional advice.  At Gilson Gray we have experienced Solicitors who have years of experience dealing with the Sheriff Courts throughout the country and across the vast breadth of cases of a type which are dealt with in the Sheriff Court.

If you wish to discuss a Sheriff Court action, please contact Ling Deng or any other member of the Litigation team.