The Guideline Hourly Rates changed on 1st January 2026. These are set out below. The 2025 and 2024 rates can be found underneath. Guideline hourly rates 2026 (with previous year’s rates in brackets) Grade Fee Earner London 1 London 2…
This section looks at decisions in relation to relief from sanctions and the general principles of CPR 3.9. Often there are links to the decisions themselves, together with links to posts on this blog. CASES IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER May 2026…
Here we look at a case where the Master struck out the claimants’ pleaded case alleging unlawful means conspiracy, breach of contract and a claim in negligence. The Master held that that the pleadings were non-compliant and did not plead…
Here we have another case of a failure to serve a claim form properly. This time a local authority failed to serve interested parties to an appeal because, rather than sending the claim forms to them personally, they were sent…
Earlier posts have written on the issue of how little guidance there is for those attending courts (civil courts in particular) to give evidence. An earlier post provided useful links. Here we look at the guidance given in one of…
There must be many anxious litigators who have read the words of CPR 6.15 and happily assumed that their case is saved. On the face of it this rule gives the court a wide power to authorise service by another…
This will not be the only case about (mis) service of the claim form this week, however it may be the largest. We have the “traditional” pattern of a claimant leaving service until the very last day and then serving…
There are some interesting observations in the short judgment on costs in this case. There was too much correspondence, “witness statements” were in reality skeleton arguments, with the contents then repeated in skeleton arguments. Furthermore a “good” Grade C is…
In Serra -v- Harvey [2024], wasted costs were ordered on an indemnity basis against the claimant’s solicitors because the lateness and condition of the trial bundles. The bundles were described as “haphazard”. This is just one of numerous posts on…
I wrote about this case in August 2025 “Here we have a case that could well bring tears to the eyes of any litigator who works on a conditional fee basis. For the second time, on appeal, the claimant solicitor’s…
One day the incorrect use of AI to cite “hallucinated” authorities is going to ruin someone’s career. It may have done so already, there are a number of SRA investigations pending. The example we look at here is highly educational…
It is important to remember the major difference in the court’s approach to a an application for an extension that is made ahead of the date of compliance compared to one that is made afterwards. The governing principles are very different….
We looked earlier at the Court of Appeal decision yesterday in relation to relief from sanctions. Here we look at the judgment in relation to the costs of the hearing below and of the appeal itself. As we shall see…
Allegations of undersettlement of personal injury actions are not uncommon. There is an entire industry specialising in looking at solicitor’s files. This webinar aims to help practitioners avoid such assertions and be able to provide clear and robust replies if…
I am grateful to Barrister Simon Brindle for sending me a copy of the judgment of this Court of Appeal judgment given yesterday. It relates primarily to the major distinction between an application made “ahead” of time and one made…
Here we have a case of a litigant (the HMRC no less) making a deliberate decision to ignore Tribunal directions. It then attempted to justify that decision by stating “That was a deliberate and proportionate case management decision, taken in…
Here we consider an issue that has some relevance to the profession as a whole. Should the SRA be liable to pay the costs of an appeal from the SDT? In this case the SRA was the instigator of the…
Recent cases have considered the question of what a defendant can argue as to damages when a claimant has obtained summary judgment. Here we look at a case that considers the position when the defendant’s defence has been struck out. …
Here we have a case where the “would be” appellant failed to obtain permission to appeal out of time. They failed to notice that the time limits for appealing this specific type of decision had been changed two months prior…
There is a revised version of the Court of Appeal judgment in Mazur. Some paragraphs were amended slightly (but significantly). These amendments do not appeal to have made their way to the version of the judgment that is publicly available….
There have been quite a few cases about pleading recently. This case is interesting because it makes the point that after a default judgment is entered a claimant is only entitled to have damages assessed on the basis of their…
Here we look at an argument that a claimant was not entitled to interest because it was not pleaded. The judge rejected the argument on two grounds. Firstly that CPR 16 does not apply to Part 8 claims; secondly that…
Here we have an unusual case in that the defendant, rather than seeking to amend its defence, sought permission to amend the list of issues to enable it to argue a new point which (the judge found) had not been…
Four webinars are now available “on demand” from Civil Litigation Brief: PD57AC; Mazur in the Court of Appeal; Informing the Client about the Costs of Litigation; Part 36 recent developments. THE COSTS (The costs are £75.00 plus VAT if you…
Here we have another case where the court considered an argument that it was “unjust” for an unsuccessful defendant to face the normal Part 36 consequences when they had failed to beat a claimant’s Part 36 offer. This judgment shows…
Here we have a case where the judge considers in considerable detail the principles relating to pleading, the striking out of pleadings, and the possibility of being allowed to amend. None of these favoured the claimant. “It is not sufficient…
Here we have an example of a litigation strategy backfiring. The applicant made a (late) application for summary judgment to be heard on the first day of the trial. The respondents filed evidence in response to the application. Much of…
This webinar examines claims of under-settlement brought against claimant solicitors, focusing on how courts determine whether professional negligence has occurred in the handling, settlement, or litigation of a case. It explores key case law where negligence was both established and…
Here we are looking at the observations made in coming to a decision (where neither applicant was successful) more than the actual process itself. The judge felt that the stance of the parties defined commonsense, but commonsense could not…
This blog has looked, many times, at the problems caused by the death of a party during the course of litigation. Here we look at a problem that occurred in the Family Court. The fundamental point here is that the …
Here we have a reiteration of a long established principle as to costs. A company can only recover legal costs on an assessment, not the costs of being a litigant. Here the appellant sought to recover both. The Costs Judge…
Here we have a situation which presents a real dilemma for those seeking, and pleading, a claim for damages. In this case there were a large number of permutations in the claimants’ claim for damages. Only some of these had…
We are used to looking at some extremely tight timelines on this blog, in particular in relation to issue and service. Here we have a case where the court found that the court has no power at all to extend…
Here we have a very short post on a very significant matter. That is the circumstances in which an expert can miss out the limitations of the data in their report on the basis that they could explain this when…
Here we have a case where there was an argument whether there should be a summary or detailed assessment. The judge made it clear that there is no presumption against summary assessment simply because a hearing lasted more than one…
We have had two cases this year that deal with the provisions of CPR 7.7. A rule that allows a defendant to serve a notice requiring service of a claim form. It is worth knowing that this rule exists and…
Here we are not looking at a judgment as such but the reasons for an order made yesterday in the High Court. The court struck out an action and ordered that the claimants’ solicitors pay £900,000 on account of costs. …
We are looking at another case where the judge has expressed major concerns about the use of Artificial Intelligence in the preparation of documents for the court. The situation is now a (depressingly) familiar one where the use of AI…
This case is another warning to those who are thinking about issuing committal proceedings on a “tactical” basis. The judge decided that the claimant’s conduct in the bringing of committal proceedings in this matter should lead to their paying costs…
Claims for loss of earnings are a critical component of many personal injury and civil litigation cases, yet they are also among the most vulnerable to failure. Poorly evidenced claims, misunderstanding of legal principles, or flawed calculations can lead not…
We are looking at an interesting decision in relation to the court being asked to determine preliminary issues in the provisional assessment process. The judge held that the courts have jurisdiction to determine preliminary applications and issues however it should…
When looking at previous posts we are looking for issues that remain relevant today. This case, about the conduct of experts and their interaction with lawyers, remains highly pertinent. The judge held that the breaches were so severe that the…
Here we have a case where the defendants created unnecessary difficulties for themselves when taking a point as to invalid service of the claim form. The claim form was not properly served. The defendants acknowledged service indicating that they were…
We are looking at a case that bristles with procedural points, including several issues relating to valid service. Here we look at just one of those issues – whether proceedings had been validly served when sent by email or to…
This is a case where the Court of Appeal allowed an appeal (in part) in relation to the striking out of a “second” action between the parties. The Court held that part of the second action was not an abuse…
Here we have an unusual case where, on appeal, a costs decision in favour of a defendant was overturned on the basis that that there was no good reason not to apply the normal principle that “the loser pays”. “There…
This judgment contains a neat summary of the approach that the court takes when it is faced with a case that rests primarily on witness evidence. The judge reviewed the case law and it was very relevant to the task…
Here we have a case where the judge held that the defendant was bound by an admission made by its own insurer. The defendant was refused permission to withdraw from that admission and the claimant granted summary judgement. “I am…
Here we have a case as to service when the claimant was successful. There were issues as to service as to the correct address and the correct means of service in Spain. The claimant adduced evidence from a Spanish lawyer…
This judgment considers issues relating to the liability of costs, reasons why “mixed” success should lead to a reduction and the appropriate quantum for costs on a summary assessment. There are also interesting issues here in relation to hourly rates…
We don’t normally look at the same case twice in the same day. However this particular judgment needs looking at from different angles. The previous post looked at the case from the point of view of the pleadings. However the…
Here we have a case where the judge refused the claimant permission to amend the Particulars of Claim in circumstances where it was conceded that the current pleading was “untenable”. There are important lessons here for everyone involved in preparing…
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