Can you recover costs in the small claims court?

When a claim is allocated to the small claim usually the successful party is unable to recover the costs.  In this case the Judge held that the successful defendant could recover their costs. 

The defendant had applied for the case to be reallocated to the fast or multi-track, but without success.  The judgment notes that the case remained as a small claim despite the amount of the counterclaim and its obvious complexity.  The defendant relied on the fact that there was a contractual provision entitling the defendant to cost.  The claimant drew the court’s attention to the Consumer Contracts Regulation 1999, in an attempt to hold the term as an unfair term.  Although the term was not individually negotiated, the Judge held that the terms did not restrict the claimant’s ability to take legal action or exercise any other legal remedy.  As such there was no good reason why the defendant should be deprived of their costs.  The Judge therefore awarded the defendant their costs from the county court hearing and the high court.

This brief judgment demonstrates that it still may be possible to recover costs where the contract provides for costs even though a claim is allocated to the small claims.

 Robert Shaw v Nine Regions Limited [2009] EWHC 3553