COSTS BITES 80: WHERE THE BILL OF COSTS WAS FOR IMAGINARY WORK AND “JUST FICTION”: ASSESSMENT SHINES A CLEAR LIGHT OF DEFICIENCES IN BILLS: AT SUBSTANTIAL COST TO THE CLAIMANTS’ SOLICITOR
The judgment of Senior Costs Judge Gordon-Saker in Ikin -v- Shawbrook Bank Limited [2023] EWHC 1075 (SCCO) contains many, many lessons of importance for those drafting and those signing bills of costs. The judge found that there were manifold failures…
COST BITES 79: JUDGE AWARDS GUIDELINE RATES EVEN IN HEAVY COMMERCIAL CASE
In Manek & Ors v 360 One WAM Ltd & Ors (Re Consequentials) [2023] EWHC 985 (Comm) Simon Rainey KC (sitting as a Judge of the High Court) declined to award rates that were higher than the Guideline Rates in…
HOURLY RATES ON DETAILED ASSESSMENT ABOVE THE GUIDELINE HOURLY RATES: A STARTING POINT BUT NOT NECESSARILY THE FINISHING POINT
In Various Claimants v News Group Newspapers Ltd [2023] EWHC 827 (SCCO) Costs Judge Rowley made some observations on the use of the Guideline Hourly rates in a detailed assessment. These may well be the starting point, they do not…
HEARING AND TRIAL BUNDLES: ARE THE COSTS OF PREPARATION RECOVERABLE? WELL, YES THEY ARE (IN PART)
There was some discussion on Twitter earlier this evening as to whether the cost of preparing bundles is recoverable at all. Since we have not had a case featuring a judicial complaint about bundles for several months* and “bundle cases”…
THE COSTS JUDGE OVER YOUR SHOULDER – MAXIMISING RECOVERY ON ASSESSMENT: WEBINAR 6th APRIL 2023
I am presenting a webinar on the 6th April 2023 – The Costs Judge Over Your Shoulder 2023 – Maximising recovery. Booking details are available here. THE WEBINAR “Here the reduction was very large and the reason for the reduction was…
COST BITES 71: POINTS OF DISPUTE STRUCK OUT BECAUSE THEY WERE NON-COMPLIANT: PAYING PARTIES RAISING OBJECTIONS HAVE TO USE THEIR JUDGMENT
I am grateful to Kain Knight Costs Lawyers for drawing my attention to the judgment of HHJ Gosnell in O’Sullivan v Holmes and Hills LLP [2023] EWHC 508 (KB). The judge allowed an appeal by a solicitor in a solicitor…
COSTS BITES 58: SUMMARY ASSESSMENT OF COSTS IN A PREMIER LEAGUE CASE: COSTS SHOULD NOT TOTALLY OVERSHOOT THE POST
There is an interesting decision as to costs in the judgment of Mr Justice Miles in The Football Association Premier League Ltd v Pattie & Ors [2023] EWHC 296 (Ch) in relation to the assessment of costs when a case…
DEFENDANT’S APPLICATION FOR AN ORDER THAT CLAIMANT REDRAW BILL OF COSTS DISMISSED: EXPERIENCE OF FEE EARNERS IS A MATTER FOR THE DETAILED ASSESSMENT PROCESS
An interesting point was considered by Costs Judge Nangalingam in Brierley v Otuo & Ors [2023] EWHC 275 (SCCO). The defendant paying party argued that a bill of costs should be redrawn. One of the grounds for the application was…
WHAT IS THE BEST COSTS ADVICE YOU CAN GIVE TO A YOUNG LAWYER? THE ENTRIES
What single piece of Advice on costs would you give to a young lawyer to stand them in good stead throughout their career? This was the question asked in the contest started last month. The contest has a prize generously…
COST BITES 55: A NON-PARTY COSTS ORDER NOT MADE AGAINST CLAIMANT’S SOLICITORS IN RELATION TO COSTS OF ASSESSMENT: QOCS MAY BE A PROBLEM FOR THE DEFENDANT – BUT THIS IS NOT THE WAY TO SOLVE IT…
In PME v The Scout Association [2023] EWHC 158 (SCCO) Costs Judge Leonard rejected the defendant’s argument that a non-party costs order should be made against the claimant’s solicitors in relation to the defendant’s costs of assessment and subsequent applications…
COST BITES 52: “WE WANT IT ALL AND WE WANT IT NOW”: COURT REFUSES CLAIMANT’S APPLICATION FOR A SUMMARY ASSESSMENT OF COSTS
One of the aims of this series is to look at those issues of costs that are, on the face of it, incidental to the main issue decided by the court. However, in practical terms, the costs issue is of…
COSTS REDUCED BY 70% BECAUSE OF MISCONDUCT IN ASSESSMENT (AFTER BEING REDUCED BY 95% DURING THE ASSESSMENT): CLAIMANT’S APPLICATION FOR PERMISSION TO APPEAL REFUSED
The judgment of Mr Justice Murray in AB v Secretary of State for Justice [2023] EWHC 72 (KB) is part of an extraordinary saga in relation to a costs assessment. Costs had been reduced by 95% on assessment and reduced…
COST BITES 48: WHERE THE ONLY RELEVANCE OF THE BUDGET IS TO SET AN UPPER LIMIT ON RECOVERABLE COSTS: THE ESCALATING COSTS OF “METAPHORICAL WARFARE”
We are returning to the judgment of Costs Judge Leonard in Reed v Woodward Property Developments Ltd & Anor [2023] EWHC 36 (SCCO) to look at two other aspects of the case. The first relates to the relevance of the costs…
COST BITES 47: PROVING (OR DISPROVING) THAT THERE WAS A VALID RETAINER: APPORTIONING RECOVERABLE COSTS BETWEEN TWO DEFENDANTS
In Reed v Woodward Property Developments Ltd & Anor [2023] EWHC 36 (SCCO) Costs Judge Leonard considered a number of issues. Firstly the court’s approach when there was a dispute as to whether there was a valid retainer. Secondly questions…
COST BITES 44: THE COSTS OF ASSESSMENT: THE RELEVANCE OF CONDUCT, ARE PART 36 OFFERS SIGNIFICANT?
We are returning to the judgment of Mrs Justice Stacey in TRX v Southampton Football Club [2022] EWHC 3392 (KB). The judge made some observations in relation to the costs of the assessment process. In particular the interplay of CPR 47.20…
COST BITES 43: CLAIMANT’S COSTS INCURRED BEFORE CFA SIGNED WERE RECOVERABLE
In TRX v Southampton Football Club [2022] EWHC 3392 (KB) Mrs Justice Stacey considered a number of issues relating to costs. One of those was the question of whether pre-CFA costs were recoverable. This required a close consideration of the…
COST BITES 42: INDEMNITY COSTS, CONDUCT AND CORRECTING MISTAKES: PROVIDING SUFFICIENT MATERIAL ON ASSESSMENT IS ESSENTIAL
In Deutsche Bank AG v Sebastian Holdings Inc [2023] EWHC 9 (SCCO) Senior Costs Judge Gordon-Saker held that a claimant was only entitled to 70% of its costs of assessment. There were difficulties in the way that the claimant had…
COST BITES 41: PREJUDGMENT INTEREST ON COSTS – CONSIDERED BUT REFUSED
In Adcock & Ors v Blemain Finance Ltd [2022] EWHC 3280 (SCCO) Costs Judge Whalan considered, and rejected, the claimants’ arguments that they should have pre-judgment interest on costs. “It is clear nonetheless that the incipitur rule constitutes the…
PROVING THINGS 244 (& COST BITES 39): WHY COSTS LAWYERS HAVE TO KNOW ABOUT PROVING THINGS
We are returning to the decision on Mr Justice Cavanagh in Shepherd & Co Solicitors v Brealey [2022] EWHC 3229 (KB) to consider another aspect of the rules relating to costs. The solicitors were seeking to persuade the court to…
IF YOU DON’T SAY WHO YOU ARE THEN YOU CANNOT ARGUE POINTS AT A DETAILED ASSESSMENT OF COSTS
In Wright v Person Or Persons Unknown Responsible for the Operation and Publication of the Website bitcoin.org [2022] EWHC 2982 (SCCO) Costs Judge Rowley held that if a paying party wanted to take part in a detailed assessment of costs…