Court of Appeal’s decision in Carver was of General Application: Jackson J. held that the Court of Appeal’s decision in Carver v. BAA Plc was of general application in relation to how a court ought to approach the issue of costs in circumstances where one party had made an offer that was nearly but not quite sufficient and the other party had rejected that offer outright without any attempt to negotiate. The present case was a complicated commercial dispute in which each party had been advancing ...
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No Wasted Costs Where Material Produced as soon as its Significance Realised: The Court of Appeal held that a Wasted Costs Order against a solicitor was not justified where material had been disclosed as soon as its significance became obvious. Although the disclosure given by the solicitor may have been defective, the issue was whether he was clearly and obviously in breach of his duty to the court to ensure that the client discharged his duty to give proper disclosure; no clear picture could e ...
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Clear Offer to Settle Bill Could be a ‘Special Circumstance’: It was held on an appeal to the Queens Bench Division that a clear without prejudice offer to settle a bill of costs with its client, made in proper time and in proper form, was capable of being a special circumstance that could reverse the statutory presumption under section 70 of the Solicitors Act 1974 that the firm were liable to pay the costs of the detailed assessment proceedings. However, in the instant case, there were no spec ...
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Claimant limited to costs recoverable in the Small Claim Track: In a claim where the claimant had claimed damages for credit hire but the claim had failed at trial because the judge had held that the claim should properly have been brought for loss of profits, HHJ Oliver-Jones QC held that prior to a Part 36 offer by the defendant, the claimant should be limited to the costs recoverable under CPR 27 as, had the claim been pleaded correctly in the first place, it would have been allocated to the ...
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Respondents who Joined Proceedings of their Own Volition should Bear their Own Costs: The Court of Appeal held that, in a situation where the Applicant’s insurance provider had stated that they were only prepared to guarantee the costs of the First Respondent on an Appeal, it was in the interests of justice that the two remaining Respondents who had joined themselves to the proceedings of their own volition should be compelled to bear their own costs. The appeal was a broad appeal, which constit ...
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Limitation Period ran from Date of Revocation of Legal Aid certificate: The Court held that the limitation period in respect of a claim to recover monies owed in respect of a legal aid certificate ran from the date of its revocation. There was no reason why the position should be any different in respect of costs that were payable as for costs that had been paid. The Court rejected the Respondent’s contention that that the cause of action had not crystallised until the costs had been assessed or ...
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Insurance Company Personally Liable for Costs of Claim: The Court of Appeal held that, as the appellant insurance company had funded, controlled and directed the defence of a personal injury claim in its own interest, even where that interest did not coincide with the interest of its insured, it was appropriate to Order it to personally pay the costs of the claim pursuant to section 51 of the Supreme Court Act 1981. The insurance company had turned down an offer of settlement, which it later tra ...
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CFA not Measured by Costs at Risk: The Court of Appeal held that the lawfulness of a percentage increase in a conditional fee agreement was measured not by the costs at risk but by reference to the fees that would have been payable if the agreement in question had not been a CFA. The concept of “costs at risk” formed no part of the definition of a CFA that provided for a success fee in section 58 of the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990.
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Additional Solicitor must be Included on Bill for Detailed Assessment: Held that where a party sought to recover costs in respect of two separate firms of solicitors, both sets of costs should be included on the bill for detailed assessment. CPR 47.6 clearly provided that detailed assessment proceedings were commenced when the receiving party served a notice of commencement and the bill for costs not a bill for costs. If the party had instructed more than one firm, PD 47 required these additiona ...
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Reduction of Costs under CPR 44: The Court of Appeal held that a judge cannot reduce a party’s costs under CPR 44 merely because they had not done as well as they had hoped. The three Claimants had recovered damages for personal injury in sums much less than they had claimed on their Schedule of Loss, but the judge had explicitly rejected the Defendant’s argument that they had purposefully and dishonestly inflated their claims. In reducing the Claimants’ costs the judge had taken conduct into ac ...
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