Description
(1) Corby Dockerill (By his Mother and Litigation Friend Zoe Dockerill (2) Demi Healey (By her Mother and Litigation Friend Zoe Dockerill) v S Tullett: Paddy Macefield (By his Litigation Friend Paula Macefield) v Janos Bakos: Rebecca Turbridy (By her Litigation Friend D Westwood) v Mohammed Sarwar [2012], EWCA, Civ 184, 24/02/12
Where claims by minors for damages for personal injury would ordinarily have been allocated to the small claims track by reason of their value, the fact that the court's approval for compromise of such claims was sought under CPR r. 21.10(2) did not characterise them as Part 8 claims whose costs ought to be calculated in accordance with the fixed costs regime. The Court held that they remained subject to detailed assessment in accordance with CPR r. 44.5 by reference to the small claims track. For the fees of counsel attending such approval hearings to be recoverable, there had to be some complexity making their attendance necessary. Although the claimants were children, in a simple and straightforward case not involving serious injuries and with no real issues about liability or quantum, the court was likely to have allocated the claim to its normal track and to have been able to deal with the case on that basis. The convenience of having counsel attend the hearing had, therefore, to be borne by the solicitors as part of the solicitors' costs.
