Dishonest architect has refused mediation at Small Claims Court

[KeepingAnOpenMind]

I settled an invoice to my architect twice and he is refusing to repay me. He has lied and said that he re-credited me (it was an ongoing job), but he has no proof of doing this. However he is articulate, clever and convincing.

I have taken him to the Small Claims Court and they suggested mediation. Mediation was yesterday but he refused to engage.

I also reported him to the Architects Registration Board and they are currently investigating him due to many other breaches of ethics.

So my question is, what happens now? The sum in dispute is 4.5k, so surely not worth going to court over. And the fact that he has refused mediation is sort of an admission of guilt.
Perhaps he hopes to kick this down the road as courts are busy and this could go on for years potentially.

Refusing mediation is not considered an admission of guilt.

As the claim hasn't settled in mediation then the court will send you a set of 'directions', which are the steps you (and he) will need to take to get the case ready for trial. You may have had this already, depending on how you have started the claim and whether you have already competed a 'Directions Questionnaire'. It's important to follow these exactly.

The most important thing is to prepare your Witness Statement in line with the court's instructions. This is your statement of what happened, and it must have all the documents you want to use attached to and referred to in it. These would likely be things such as invoices, receipts and bank statements. Once the trial starts, you can''t stop it to go back home to get a document you've forgotten!

Either in the directions, or by a separate notification shortly afterwards, the court will tell you when the case is going to be heard. Pre-pandemic, small claims were almost always in person, but during lockdown telephone and video hearings were regularly used, and at the moment there's a bit of a mixture happening.

The small claims system is designed for claims up to £10k and there are many claims that get tried for a lot less than £4.5k. You can represent yourself or get a lawyer, but normally the losing side only has to pay limited costs from the winner, and they don't include the costs of hiring a lawyer. The process is (supposedly) designed so that parties can manage their cases without lawyers.

While the courts are busy, small claims will normally be heard in a few months rather than years.

Only you can decide whether £4.5k is worth the work to you. Personally, it's big enough that I wouldn't want to lose it without a fight.

Mine was a £6k claim and I won. It's not a fun process but the money back in my bank account made it worth it.