Costs & Damages

Action for Damages – Solatium - Road traffic accident – Causation - Pursuer having suffered whiplash type injury, although vehicles she was in The Pursuer was a passenger in a private hire vehicle, which was stationery at a junction when it was struck on the rear bumper by the......

The test under the Limitation Act 1980 s.14(2) to determine when a person would reasonably have considered an injury to be sufficiently serious to justify his instituting proceedings for damages was an objective one. That a person was inhibited by the injury itself from instituting proceedings was ......

Dispute as to the costs associated with an order enforcing an arbitration award served out of jurisdiction. Held: The overriding objective to act in a cost-efficient and proportionate way applies not only to the court but also to the parties. The question is whether it was reasonable and proport......

In an application for a third party costs order, where liability was conceded and there was no trial as to quantum, the claimant sought permission to cross-examine the defendants' witnesses for the purposes of a s. 51, Senior Courts Act 1981 application. Held: The general rule is that s. 51 ap......

The Pursuer sought damages for alleged negligence on the part of the Defenders and also damages for alleged nuisance. A drainage ditch at the side of a public road ran alongside the Pursuer's fields. The Defenders were the local authority responsible for the management and maintenance of the road a......

Solicitors who delegated the task of obtaining medical reports to medical agencies did not absolve themselves of the responsibility to assist the court to ascertain whether the costs incurred were reasonable and proportionate. In conjoined appeals the claimants been involved in road traffic acci......

The Court of Appeal held that the judge had been entitled to award the successful defendant to an action for fraudulent misrepresentation only 65 per cent of her costs on account that she had failed on several issues at trial. Pursuant to CPR r.44.3(4)(b), the court must have regard to the extent t......

In an unsuccessful application for an interim injunction relating to supplies of patented medicine, the defendant sought costs on an indemnity basis.Held: There has to be something wholly unreasonable and conduct far outside the norm to justify awarding costs against an unsuccessful party on an ind......

Reparation - Debate:- In this action the pursuer sought damages in respect of alleged bullying and harassment at her work between early 2000 and late 2001. During that period the pursuer was employed as a prison guard by the Scottish Prison Service and her claim comprised solatium for anxiety, dist......

A Judge exceeded the ambit of his discretion in the way he dealt with costs where the unsuccessful claimant's after the event insurance was insufficient to pay the defendants' costs. The claimant was unsuccessful, but his after the event insurance was limited to £250,000. Each of th......

The respondents were successful on appeal and were entitled to their costs. The issue was whether the costs should be summarily assessed or subject to a detailed assessment if not agreed. The Claimant argued that the costs should be subject to a detailed assessment. The general position was that......

Costs & Part 36 Offers. When dealing with costs the judge had erred in principle when ruling that a Calderbank offer made by the defendant either had full effect or no effect at all and, as a result, the costs order was manifestly unjust to the defendant who had made a clear offer substantially exc......

The Commercial Court handed down a preliminary judgment in this case concerning the recovery of the cost of repairing cars damaged in road traffic accidents. The Claimant's insurer, Royal Sun Alliance Insurance (RSAI), had established a system whereby a company within the RSA group, Moto......

Appeal against an issue-based order for costs dismissed. Held: It would have been better for the judge to make an order that the Second Claimant/Appellant recover only a proportion of his costs and to have made no order for costs in favour of the Defendant/Respondent, as contemplated by CPR 44.3(6)......

Exceptional case of recovering costs as part of damages awarded. It would only be in an exceptional case that costs, ordered to be paid by the claimant to the defendant in the course of a negligence claim by the former against the latter, could be recovered by the claimant from the defendant as pa......

The court gave guidance on the principles and practice of making protective costs orders in public law cases. A protective costs order would only be made in exceptional cases. On the present facts, a protective costs order would be made where an application for judicial review was of general public......

The case arose out of a nuisance claim brought by the Lawrence and another (L) against Coventry and others (C, M & W). L inhabited a house near C's motorsports stadium. The Supreme Court had found C and M liable in nuisance. In the instant action the court considered the costs consequences ......

The Claimant sought to resist a costs order against him at the conclusion of an intellectual property dispute before Asplin J in the Chancery Division of the High Court. Though he had substantially been the unsuccessful party, it was argued on his behalf that the Defendants were offered all that th......

Motion to remit to Sheriff Court:- In this ordinary action the pursuer sought damages of £9,000 in respect of damage caused to his motor vehicle following a collision with a bus driven by an employee of the defenders. Liability was not disputed by the defenders and the only issue related to th......

While the court should be cautious about reducing a party's costs budget, in the instance case it was appropriate to do so. C had filed a costs budget and the court was required to determine whether it should be reduced for being disproportionate and/or unreasonable. The judge held that w......

The Pursuers/Appellants were heritable proprietors of a first floor tenement flat. The Defender/Respondent was the proprietor of the property below. He had arranged for Ascension Construction Limited to carry out works to his property and they were convened as third parties to the action. The Pur......

Application by defendant for costs incurred in consideration and preparation of struck out witness evidence disclosed by the claimants at a pre-trial review. Held: Although frequently disregarded, the Queen's Bench Guide at para 7.10.4 concerning witness statements is clear: a witness state......

The Law Society should take in to account the means of a solicitor in approaching sanctions and costs and that where exceptional poverty was present a commensurate reduction in the fine and costs order which was proportionate to the breaches of the code and took in to account the prospect of futur......