HMCTS failed to put evidence before judge

What happened

Mrs S went to a small claims court for a hearing about a rental property. HMCTS failed to put Mrs S's evidence bundle before the judge at the final hearing. Mrs S made the judge aware that he had not seen her evidence during the hearing and the judge said that he would look at the copy she had in court if he needed to.

The judge awarded in Mrs S's favour but he did not recommend the level of payment she thought she was owed.

What we found

The judge knew he had not seen Mrs S's evidence bundle. He also knew that Mrs S had a copy of the evidence bundle in court and he said that he would look at it if he needed to. HMCTS's mistake did not limit the judge's ability to consider Mrs S's evidence, if that was what he felt he needed to do.

The judge made certain decisions about the case that meant he did not need to see Mrs S's evidence of her costs before spring 2007. It was these costs that Mrs S believes she lost out on because of HMCTS's failure to give the judge her evidence. We did not agree with Mrs S that the judge would have reached a different conclusion if HMCTS had given him her evidence in time for the hearing. We cannot say what a judge would or would not have done if the circumstances had been different and we cannot make a judicial decision. In our view, however, the evidence did not suggest that HMCTS's mistake caused Mrs S financial loss.

HMCTS had apologised to Mrs S for its failing before she came to us. We considered that it had, by apologising, already put matters right and that there was nothing further we could do for Mrs S. We did not uphold her complaint.