This is an appeal against a decision of two costs officers appointed to assess costs incurred inproceedings before the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords (‘the House of Lords’). Itconsiders the approach which should be taken by courts when awarding costs, and costs officers when assessing costs, in cases raising issues about the environment where European law and the Aarhus Convention provide that, because of the nature of such legal proceedings, they should not be ‘prohibitively expensiv ...
|
Services provided by Sole Proprietor Solicitor Liable for VAT. A sole proprietor solicitor failed to establish on the balance of probabilities that his VAT assessment was incorrect. The services in question were to be treated as the provision of legal services rather than disbursements, which brought them within the scope of VAT. A profit element in the charge for land services took it outside the definition of ‘disbursements’ in the relevant EU Directive. The costs of telegraphic services and ...
|
In the circumstances, there were no factors which justified a departure from the normal expectation, set out in Chrulew v Borm-Reid & Co 1 All ER 953 and preserved by the CPR r.47.18(1), that the party whose bill was being taxed was entitled to his costs of the taxation.
|
Where a claimant in a personal injury action had initially issued proceedings before the time limit had expired and had brought a second action in respect of the same injuries after expiry, the court could use its discretion under the Limitation Act 1980 s.33 to dis-apply the three-year time limit. The decision in Walkley v Precision Forgings Limited (1979) 1 WLR 606 was overruled, as it had deprived claimants of a right that Parliament had intended them to have, and had given rise to much unsat ...
|
Costs and Human Rights: The scheme allowing success fees to be recovered from the losing party to an action for defamation was compatible withArt.10 of the European Convention on Human Rights 1950, therefore a defendant could not argue that the threat of liability to pay a large sum by way of costs infringed its right to freedom of expression.
|
| 1 |