District Judge Patricia Pearl outlines the new appeals regime for small claims.

An appeal against a small claims decision is governed by CPR r.52: with effect from 2 October 2000 rr 27.12 and 27.13 are revoked.

The procedure for rejecting an appeal as a paper exercise has been abandoned because it was not a 'human rights' compliant.

Small claims now share the same grounds for appeal with all other cases - the grounds are set out in r.52.11.

A judgment can be overturned if it is wrong in law, fact, or in the exercise of the judge's discretion (in place of a mistake of law alone) or because it is unjust on account of a serious procedural or other irregularity.

Previously, the irregularity had to affect the proceedings.

R.52 omits the word 'affect' so an irregularity may vitiate the decision even if the result was unaffected.

To succeed on appeal will not be easy: judicial discretion is wide.

Any litigant contemplating an appeal will not doubt the obstacles to be overcome once they have read the notes on the Form N161 which must be utilised.

The fact that the 'no costs' rule does not apply to small claims appeals will act as a further deterrent (r.27.14(2)(c)).

Permission is needed for any appeal, but the litigant may not know this until they have read the court service leaflet 'I want to appeal'.

Permission can be granted at the hearing and no fee is payable for the application.

Thereafter, the application for permission attracts a court fee of 50 plus a further 50 for the appeal itself (half the fee payable on an appeal from any other track).

The fee is refunded if the application fails.

Many small claims appeals will be weeded out at the permission stage, because the litigant must show that the appeal has a 'real prospect of success' (r.52.11).

Judges may also apply the overriding objective, and the concept of proportionality has especial relevance to small claims.

The wide ranging powers of circuit judges to give conditional and limited permission to appeals (r.52.3(7)) will also be useful in managing small claims appeals.

DocumentsThe documents filed with the notice of appeal have been slightly reduced for the small claims track - the appellant does not need to file a skeleton argument, witness statements, documents or notes of evidence (PD 52 para 5.8A has the details).

The amendment rules which came into effect on 2 October oblige the respondent to file a skeleton argument.

This will be corrected from 14 November 2000.

The documents filed must include a 'suitable record' of the district judge's reasons for the original decision.

A litigant in person is entitled to the notes made by any advocate at the hearing free of charge (PD 52 para 5.14 (7)).

The litigant's own notes, if any, are unlikely to be acceptable so they will have to pay for a transcript of the decision: the cost runs at about 60-80 per half hour of judgment.

Sorry, I forgot.R.27.11 is unaffected.

Parties not attending a hearing for a genuine reason can apply for a rehearing.

The application must be made within 14 days and the absent party must show the case had a 'reasonable prospect of success'.

I was there but...An appeal may not be necessary.

In limited circumstances, the district judge may 'reopen' the case (CCR Ord 37 r.1(2) and (5)).

The rehearing reviews the original evidence and is only available where there is no allegation of error by the district judge at the original hearing.

If the application is made because fresh evidence came to light after the hearing it will only be granted if the evidence could not have been obtained for the original hearing with 'reasonable diligence' Ladd v Marshall [1954] 3 AER 745 CA.

These provisions were excluded from cases under the former 'arbitration' procedure.District Judge Patricia Pearl sits at Watford County Court.