Appealing a county court decision

Hello there. I am Gemma, your legal assistant here at Lawyer Destroyer. I would be happy to help you with this.

The short answer is yes, you can appeal a County Court decision, but it is unfortunately not as simple as just feeling disappointed with the result or wanting a second attempt at the hearing.

The legal position:

Appeals in England and Wales are not a chance to run your whole case again from the beginning or introduce new evidence just because you forgot to mention it. To win an appeal, you need to show the appeal court that the original judge made a specific and serious error.

The court rules state that an appeal will only succeed if the original decision was either wrong in law or fact, or unjust because of a serious procedural or other irregularity. For example, the judge might have applied the wrong piece of legislation, made a factual finding that no reasonable judge could have made based on the evidence, or conducted the hearing so unfairly that it prejudiced your case.

Permission to appeal:

You do not have an automatic right to appeal. You must get permission first. You can ask for this from the judge at the end of your original hearing. If you did not ask then, or if they said no, you can ask the appeal court for permission when you submit your appeal paperwork. A judge will only give you permission if they think your appeal has a real prospect of success, or if there is another compelling reason why the appeal should be heard.

The strict time limit:

It is very important to know that you usually only have 21 days from the date of the judge's decision to file your appeal paperwork, unless the judge gave you a different deadline at the hearing. If you miss this deadline, you have to ask the court for an extension, which is incredibly difficult to get and is rarely granted without a very exceptional reason.

Practical next steps:

1. Think carefully about the judge's reasoning. You will need to pinpoint exactly where the law was applied incorrectly or where the procedure was unfair. It is very helpful to have the written court order and a transcript of the judge's final reasoning to help with this.

2. Weigh up the risks. Appeals can be expensive, stressful, and time-consuming. Because you can only appeal on very narrow legal grounds, they are hard to win. Keep in mind that if you lose an appeal, you might also be ordered to pay the other side's legal costs for the appeal process.

3. Identify the correct court forms. If you decide to go ahead, you will need to fill in an Appellants Notice. If your case was on the small claims track, this is usually Form N164. For most other County Court claims, it is usually Form N161.

4. Submit your paperwork. You will need to send your completed form, a copy of the court order you are appealing, your written reasons for appealing, and the required court fee to the appropriate appeal court. This must be received by the court before your 21-day time limit expires.

If you have any more details about why you think the judge was wrong, or if you need to know which specific court to send your appeal to, please feel free to share a few more facts about your case and I can guide you further.