Woman lost money when court hearing was cancelled at short notice

What happened

The day before Ms W was due to attend a court hearing, HMCTS contacted her to say it had lost her paperwork and, as a result, the hearing had been postponed. Ms W complained that she had wasted the money she had spent on legal fees related to this hearing. In particular, she complained that she had lost the money she had paid to a barrister who had been due to represent her at the hearing.

What we found

We partly upheld Ms W's complaint. Although Ms W had been affected by HMCTS's error, we did not think this meant she had wasted all of the money she had paid. We felt that much of the work done in preparation for the hearing would still be relevant once the hearing was rearranged.

However, we agreed with Ms W that the money she had paid to the barrister had been wasted. This was because Ms W could not have this money refunded to her and, if she wanted a barrister to represent her at another hearing, she would have to pay this money again.

Putting it right

HMCTS apologised to Ms W for the inconvenience its administrative failure had caused her and agreed to pay her £100 for this. It also agreed to pay her £3,600, plus interest, for the money she had paid to the barrister.