Pause and restart
Pausing and restarting claims is covered in Part 9 of the Simple Procedure Rules. Any party in the simple procedure action can request the claim be paused by completing an Application to Pause (Form 9A) and sending it to the other party. If the other party objects to the claim being paused, they must send the application to pause form to the sheriff court within 10 days of receipt, outlining why they object. The sheriff then reviews the application to pause and any objections, and issues one of the following three orders:
•grant the application, and pause the progress of the case; or
•refuse the application, and the progress of the case continues; or
•order both parties to appear at a discussion in court, where the sheriff will consider whether to pause the progress of the case.
The case is then paused until any party involved in the claim requests it is restarted by completing an Application to Restart (Form 9B) and sending it to the other party. The other party can object to the claim being restarted in the same manner as the application to pause. The sheriff reviews the application to restart and any objections, and then issue one of the following three orders:
•grant the application and restart the case; or
•refuse the application, and the case continues to be paused; or
•order both parties to appear at a discussion in court, where the sheriff will consider whether to restart the case.
The sheriff clerk must present to the sheriff a case which has been paused for six months or more. The sheriff then sends the party/parties involved written orders stating that action must be taken otherwise the case will be dismissed.
Example
The respondent asked for the claim to be paused (which was granted), but the claimant did not ask for the claim to be restarted and six months have passed. The sheriff sends written orders to the claimant stating that they must apply for the claim to be restarted. If they ignore the written orders or do nothing, the sheriff dismisses the claim. Any time limits to this are set out in the written orders sent by the sheriff.