Description
Appeal concerning a solicitor's entitlement to recover costs from a paying party where settlement is paid directly to a client despite notice being given that there is an outstanding costs debt.
Held: Collusion and notice are parallel routes to an equitable interference with the disposal of damages and costs. Where the paying party has colluded with the opposing party to keep fees from that party's lawyers or the paying party has been put on notice of the solicitor's lien, payment to the opposing party is not a good discharge of the costs debt and the payment must be made again.
In the present case, the paying party was on clear notice not to pay the client and therefore required to pay the sums to the solicitors.
