Reply To: Victory over BA at CEDR on ticket validity issue!

[StillintheSun]

CEDR v Her Majesty’s Court Service with a Money Claim Online (MCOL)

I had personally used neither service before as a litigant, although I am very familiar with the English Court system which is woefully underfunded, short staffed and some of it pretty dilapidated. Read his books or follow The Secret Barrister if you want an idea about our criminal courts. Do not find yourself before them. Even if you are innocent and win, legal aid (unless you are breadline) is most unlikely to cover you fees which could be tens of thousands of pounds in a serious matter (rape, serious assault) etc. Anyway enough politics.

Currently, civil small claims are taking roughly a year to get to a final hearing. Although the Court fees are fixed and it is rare for a litigant to be ordered to pay the other sides cost’s when they lose a small claim. The costs of taking my claim to a final hearing and losing would have totalled about £500. If I had won then British Airways would in all but relatively rare circumstances be ordered to pay me the £500 on top of my damages (compensation). Using the Courts would require various time consuming, formal documents to be produced. It is not uncommon for Courts to misplace them. If BA did not settle I would have to take a day to attend Court. However, I would get a judge to hear my case and the decision would be binding on both BA and myself unless the loser decided to appeal. Unlikely but not impossible.

I had a look at the CEDR website. I was very impressed with the manner in which it presented the service online and the clarity of the information provided. Even with Covid the time to a decision seemed likely to be shorter than using the Court system.

Given that (i) BA’s deadlock letter specifically noted the availability of using CEDR if I was still unhappy (and stated the decision to be binding) and (ii) the online rules made it clear that the arbitrator’s decision was binding on BA only if I accepted it and (iii) arbitration was entered into after I had sent a formal letter of claim I thought that enforcing an arbitration decision in a Court, if say BA did not pay up, had decent prospects.

Moreover, the fact that it was not binding on me unless I accepted the decision meant that I could have two bites of the cherry, once at CEDR and once at Court if necessary. I would also get to see BA’s arguments at CEDR and amend my case, if necessary for Court. Finally, CEDR would cost me just £25 if I totally lost.

CEDR drawbacks were (i) quality of the arbitrators was unknown and (ii) the rules made clear that the award of interest was unlikely (I forget the exact phrase used). From the commentators on here interest running at 8% from the date I purchased the Qatar tickets could possibly be recovered by the Court process, which is an excellent rate of return.