Our legal teams are happy to provide further explanations for words or phrases that may or may not be included within this glossary.
Adjourned/re-listed
This refers to when the court decide a hearing is not going ahead as originally scheduled and when it has been re-scheduled for.
Sometimes the court has to adjourn (postpone) hearings due to lack of judicial capacity. They will then re-list (give us a new date) the matter for another day. They will often come in two separate orders some weeks apart
Agreement
When both parties are no longer in dispute over a particular issue. An agreement is usually when settlement is unanimously agreed between both sides.
Allegation
This is a claim made against someone which has not yet proved to be true. In some cases, the other side can make an allegation which we will dispute.
Barrister
A lawyer who is regulated by the Bar Standards Board, who we would instruct to represent our claimant in court.
Breach of Duty
This is if the defendant wishes to differentiate between liability and causation.
Claimant
This word is used when we refer to our client or the person we are acting on behalf of.
Compensation
This is the remuneration for loss, injury, or suffering.
Consolidation
A consolidation is when several cases are put together and treated as one. This would usually happen in flight delay compensation matters.
We may tell our clients that their claim has been consolidated with other claims for the hearing. This just means it has been joined with other cases for the same flight. It is within the court’s powers to do this in order to ensure maximum efficiency and certainty in law.
Court Order
This is a formal request from the court.
A court order can request further information or evidence, can consolidate matters, transfer matters and place a stay on cases.
The court have powers to progress and guide cases to a final trial in the most proficient way. Orders can request compliance from the defendant or the claimant, or both in one order. They are dated and provide a deadline for either party. This deadline must be adhered to, otherwise, the claimant can request Judgment from the court or the claim can be struck out.
Counsel
This phrase is used in reference to a barrister who we would usually instruct to conducting a case in court.
Defendant
This is the person or company we are claiming against and who we are holding responsible.
In flight delay matters, the airline is classed as the defendant. For holiday claims, this would be the travel or booking agent. In personal injury matters, the defendant is the third party who we are holding responsible for the accident. This is often the driver, their insurance company or both.
Defence
A ‘Defence’ is the defendant’s response to your claim and will outline any reasons as to why they have not yet agreed to settle the matter or why they believe compensation not to be payable.
The legal process allows the opportunity for the other side to defend a claim. If we disagree with their defence, we will continue acting on a claimants behalf and in many cases, issue court proceedings.
Directions
A direction is an action that the court orders the parties to do. A date/deadline will be given by the court for each direction, this is usually a 30 week time table for personal injury related matters.
Directions Questionnaire
This is a court form with various questions which must be answered about the claim. Bott and Co will do this on our client’s behalf. A directions questionnaire enables the court to create a timetable of dates we need to comply with to file certain documents as part of a claim.
Disclosure – personal injury claims
A disclosure document needs to be signed by the client and sets out all of the documents held which are relevant to the case. Both parties must exchange lists by the date given by the court. This is known as disclosure.
Evidence
This is documentation to support a claim. For flight delay claims, this can include booking documentation to prove the passenger’s reservation or a passenger’s witness statement. The airline may have to provide a flight log to evidence a delay or an air traffic control decision.
For personal injury claims, evidence can range from a witness statement to a medical report.
EX160 Form – personal injury claims
When proceedings are lodged at court, there is a fee to pay which is based upon the value of the claim. The fee is normally recoverable from the defendant upon completion of the claim except in circumstances where you would be eligible for exemption from paying the fee, we pay this fee on your behalf. To assist with us being able to recover these costs we send out an EX160 form.
Fee Earner
This term refers to a case handler, also known as a fee earner. A fee earner is a member of staff who has a case load and works on cases on behalf of the company and clients who have instructed us. Fee Earners generate income for the firm through handling cases.
Judgment in Default
This is obtained when the defendant has failed to adhere to a deadline set by the court. When this happens, the claimant (or their Solicitors) request Judgment in default which is the requesting the full amount of the claim. Even if we get a Judgment in default, the defendant can apply to the courts to have this set aside.
Liability
This term describes the condition of being legally obligated or responsible. If liability is admitted by the other side, they are liable and therefore at fault.
LVI – personal injury claims
This stands for Low Velocity Impact. This is when the defendant alleges that the collision was so minor that the claimant could not have been moved in his vehicle or sustained the injuries claimed.
Notice of Issue
Once court proceedings have been issued and served, we will receive confirmation from the court that the claim has been issued. This is also referred to as notice of issue.
Outlay – personal injury claims
When proceedings are issued it is important that we include all items of loss within the claim, these are known as outlays. The most common is the client insurer’s outlay which often includes vehicle repairs and hire charges.
Other types of outlay can include employer’s losses or losses incurred by a private health company for treatment, for example, BUPA.
Pre-action period
This is the time just before a case goes to court.
For flight delay cases, we invite the airline to settle in the first instance. The pre-action period is governed by the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR – Pre-action conduct and protocol). There are no set timeframes for how long this period should be. The CPR provides guidance of 14 days to 3 months depending on the complexity of the case. We stick to around 28 days.
Protocol Period – personal injury claims
This is when the third party insurers simply do not reply or indicate that they need more time to investigate the claim. If this happens the third party insurers have three months from the date the claim was first submitted to complete their investigations into the claim. This is called the protocol period.
Request Judgment
This is when we ask the court to grant judgment in the passenger’s favour.
Sometimes when the court sends out an Order for the Defendant to comply with, they will provide a deadline date. The order will say that if the Defendant defaults then we can request judgment for regulatory compensation.
Settlement
This is the other sides agreement to pay compensation.
For flight delay matters, this is the airline’s agreement to pay the requested regulatory amount of compensation. For personal injury claims, both sides will agree on a settlement figure and it is up to us to decide whether we think that amount is appropriate.
Stay
A case is stayed, meaning put on hold, pending the outcome of a similar case.
A stay of proceedings is one of the court’s powers to put the case on hold. There are various reasons why a claim could be stayed but the most common is to await the outcome of an appeal case.
Transfer of proceedings
This refers to when a claim is transferred from one court to another.
Claims will always start in the same court but eventually will be transferred out. In flight delay compensation cases, this could be due to the airline’s office location or judicial capacity.
Trial/Hearing
This is when all parties relating to the matter come together. The claimant and defendant provide their submissions (arguments) for the Judge to hear.
Without prejudice
This term is used most for settlement offers and simply means that the correspondence does not affect or prejudice the claim itself or any subsequent claims. It is used to protect from prejudicing the claim. Thus, the correspondence should not be brought to the courts attention. An example of this is that correspondence for one case should not effect any other claims for the same flight.
E.g. Claim 1 for the same flight may be settled within 2/3 weeks on a without prejudice basis but on Claim 2 the airline may proceed to defend the claim. The previous without prejudice agreement cannot affect the second claim.
Written Judgment
This refers to a ruling after a hearing. This is made by a Judge after hearing both sides of the argument. In some instances, the Judge allows for an appeal but on the most part this is the end of the claim and the Judge’s final decision is made. The Judgment can outline that the claimants are due compensation and dictates a day by which the defendant must pay this by. Alternatively, the Judge can also dismiss the claim entirely.
Some Judge’s provide in depth reasons for their decision which could be up to 20 pages long, and others might simply write a sentence to accompany their decision.
It is important to remember that even if Judgment is entered for the claimant, it is possible for the defendant to request to have this set aside to give them time to file their defence.