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 54: THOSE COSTS BUDGETS MAY BE AGREED BUT THEY ARE NEITHER REASONABLE NOR PROPORTIONATE: AND THE COURT IS GOING TO SAY SO.
In Lemos & Ors v Church Bay Trust Company Ltd & Ors [2023] EWHC 157 (Ch) Insolvency and Companies Court Judge Jones made it clear that he did not accept the reasonableness of the costs budgets of both parties. The…
COSTS BITES 53: POSSIBILITY OF AN APPEAL AND INABILITY TO RELY ON COSTS BUDGET ARE NOT GROUNDS FOR REFUSING AN INTERIM ORDER FOR COSTS
In Isaac v Tan & Anor (Re Costs) [2022] EWHC 3478 (Ch) Mr Justice Adam Johnson considered issues of costs following an unsuccessful unfair prejudice application relating to the shares of Cardiff City Football Club. He held that the application…
COST BITES 50: USEFUL LINKS ON COSTS FROM KINGS CHAMBERS: TAKE YOUR PICK…
There are a large number of helpful links on Kings Chambers’ Resource page. Here I link specifically to those relating to costs. Firstly the newsletters and articles and secondly the regular series of webinars. NEWSLETTERS Costs Litigation Newsletter:…
COST BITES 45: COURT REJECTS DEFENDANT’S APPLICATION THAT CASE INVOLVING A CHILD BE BUDGETED: ACCEPTS CLAIMANT’S APPLICATION FOR AN INTERIM PAYMENT ON COSTS – BUT NOT THE AMOUNT CLAIMED
In CXS v Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust [2023] EWHC 14 (KB) Master Cook considered issues relating to costs in a case concerning a child where the matter is unlikely to be resolved for many years. The Master rejected…
COST BITES 33: BUDGETS: PROPORTIONALITY, COUNSEL’S FEES (“STRATOSPHERIC”, OR “ASPIRATIONAL”) THE COST OF EXPERTS AND THE COSTS OF TRIAL
There is a detailed exposition of the principles relating to costs budgeting in the judgment of Mrs Justice Joanna Smith in Various Sam Borrowers v BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages) No. 1 Plc & Ors [2022] EWHC 2594 (Ch). The judgment…
COST BITES 30: OTHER PEOPLE’S BUDGETS: NONE OF THESE BUDGETS IS UNREASONABLE OR DISPROPORTIONATE
It is always interesting to look at the figures involved in relation to costs budgeting. We can see an example in the decision of Mr Roger Ter Haar KC in University of Manchester v John McAslan & Partners Ltd &…
COST BITES 29: THE PRINCIPLES OF BUDGETING CONSIDERING AND APPLIED: 15% REDUCTION TO BUDGET
In Associated Newspapers Ltd v Buckingham Group Contracting Ltd (Cost Budgeting) [2022] EWHC 2767 (TCC) Mr Roger Ter Haar KC considered principles relating to the budgeting process. He reduced a budget by 15% across the board. “In my judgment, the…
THE CONSEQUENCES OF FAILING TO FILE A BUDGET DISCUSSION REPORT: A CASE TO CONSIDER
I am grateful to Jodie Davis from Irwin Mitchell for sending me a note of a judgment given in a case relating to non-service of the Budget discussion report. The note is reproduced in full below. There is an interesting…
IMPOSING A COSTS CAP CANNOT BE A MEANS OF STIFLING LITIGATION OR ACHIEVING OTHER ENDS BY THE BACK DOOR: DEFENDANT’S APPLICATION FOR PERMISSION TO APPEAL REFUSED
There are rules governing the citation of judgments refusing permission to appeal. However the judgment of Lord Justice Coulson in PGI Group Ltd v Thomas & Ors (Application for Permission to Appeal) [2022] EWCA Civ 233 has been put on BAILII…
PROVING THINGS 222: SPENDING £200,000 IN COSTS OVER 9 INCHES OF LAND: BEYOND THE JUDGE’S COMPREHENSION AS TO HOW THIS GOT SO EXPENSIVE
In Davis & Anor v Winner [2021] EW Misc 23 (CC) the parties between them appear to have spent over £200,000 in costs. This is a dispute over inches of land. It is not surprising that HHJ Mithani QC expressed…
DOMESTIC BUILDING LITIGATION AND PREVENTING FINANCIAL DISASTER: SUGGESTIONS FROM THE CIRCUIT BENCH
In The Sky’s the Limit Transformations Ltd v Mirza [2022] EWHC 29 (TCC) HHJ Stephen Davies makes a number of suggestions designed to mitigate the potentially ruinous costs of litigation in relation to domestic building disputes. ” … it would…
SOLICITOR AND OWN COSTS ASSESSMENT: HIGH COURT UPHOLDS DECISION THAT CLIENT NOT LIABLE TO PAY ADDITIONAL COUNSEL’S FEES: SOLICITOR TERMINATED THE RETAINER AND COULD NOT RECOVER COSTS
I wrote about the first instance decision in Murray v Richard Slade And Co Ltd [2021] EWHC 3383 (QB), in two posts in January this year, the first is here, the second here. The claimant in that case (the solicitor…
DEFENDANT WHO DID NOT FILE A REVISED COSTS BUDGET COULD NOT (NECESSARILY) RECOVER THE COSTS OF A COUNTERCLAIM
In Bhat & Anor v Patel & Anor [2021] EWHC 2960 (Ch) Mrs Justice Fancourt held that defendants, who had not filed a revised costs budget, were not entitled to recover the costs of that counterclaim unless a relief from…
BUDGETED COSTS ARE NOT NECESSARILY THE LOWEST COSTS ( & THE COURT SHOULD ADOPT A CAUTIOUS APPROACH TO MAKING COMMENTS IN RELATION TO INCURRED COSTS): HIGH COURT DECISION
In Discovery Land Company, LLC & Ors v Axis Specialty Europe SE [2021] EWHC 2146 (Comm) Peter MacDonald Eggers QC (sitting as a Deputy Judge of the High Court) set out some of the principles relating to costs budgeting, in…
“I EXPECTED THAT THE LAWYERS IN THE CASE WOULD WORK CONSCIENTOUSLY WORK WITHIN THE BUDGET WHICH I HAD SET. SADLY, I SENSE, THAT THEY HAVE NOT TRIED VERY HARD TO DO SO”
In Z (No.2) (Schedule 1: Further Legal Costs Funding Order; Further Interim Financial Provision) [2021] EWFC 72 Mr Justice Cobb carried out what was, essentially, a cost budgeting exercise in a family case. There are important observations about the need…
CASES IN THE ASBESTOS LIST ARE NOT SUBJECT TO COSTS BUDGETING: THERE ARE NO EXCEPTIONS…
In Smith v W Ford & Sons (Contractors) Ltd [2021] EWHC 1749 (QB) Master Davison refused a defendant’s application that costs budgeting take place in a case that was in the Asbestos list. “These listing arrangements cannot accommodate costs budgeting….
SIGNIFICANT DEVELOPMENTS IMMEDIATELY BEFORE THE CASE IS COSTS BUDGETED? WHEN IS THE SOLICITOR EXPECTED TO JUMP?
In Thompson -v- NSL Limited [2021] EWHC 679 (QB) Master McCloud considered the issue of whether there had been significant developments sufficient to allow a revision of the costs budget when it was known at the time the budget was…
APPLYING TO VARY A COSTS BUDGET: RULES AND PROCEDURE: WEBINAR 19TH MAY 2021
On the 19th May 2021 I am presenting a webinar on applying to vary a costs budget. Booking details are available here. WHAT THE WEBINAR COVERS Making sure that the budget is, and remains, correct is an important part…
APPLYING TO VARY A COSTS BUDGET: RULES AND PROCEDURE: WEBINAR 19th MAY 2021
On the 19th May 2021 I am presenting a webinar on applying to vary a costs budget. Booking details are available here. WHAT THE WEBINAR COVERS Making sure that the budget is, and remains, correct is an important part of…