COST BITES 365: SOMETHING AKIN TO COSTS BUDGETING IN A FAMILY CASE – WHERE SIX LAWYERS WERE EMPLOYED, ONE CHARGING £1,130 AN HOUR: “THERE IS SOMETHING OF A LACK OF REALITY IN BOTH SETS OF FIGURES”
There is no real equivalent to costs budgeting in the Family Court. On the whole this is a “no costs” jurisdiction. However we have something similar here. In essence the judge held that the applicant put forward an unrealistic “budget”…
COST BITES 355: VARYING A BUDGET (3): PROPOSED VARIATIONS DISALLOWED BECAUSE THEY WERE NOT MADE “PROMPTLY”
This is the final part of today’s trilogy considering applications to vary costs budget. We have already seen that the judge determined that many issues in the case were “significant developments” which could, in theory, lead to a variation of…
COST BITES 354: VARYING A BUDGET (2) HOW WAS THE ISSUE OF “SIGNIFICANT DEVELOPMENTS” CONSIDERED IN PRACTICE?
The previous post looked at the judge’s consideration of the principles relating to variations in a costs budget. Here we look at how this worked out in practice with the judge considering whether various issues amounted to “significant developments”. Some…
COST BITES 353: VARYING A COSTS BUDGETS (1): THE PRINCIPLES CONSIDERED: WHAT IS MEANT BY “SIGNIFICANT DEVELOPMENTS”?
We are taking a detailed look at a judgment that deals with proposals to vary costs budgets. This post will look at the judge’s considerations of the rules, principles and guidance that relates to variation of budgets. Later posts will…
COST BITES 352: S.106 OF THE PATENTS ACT HAS NO IMPACT UPON THE COURT’S DECISIONS IN RELATION TO COSTS BUDGETING
There are several interesting issues raised in this judgment. The fundamental point is whether the costs budgeting exercise is an “award of costs or expenses”. The judge decided that it is not. This, in turn, had an impact upon whether…
COST BITES 351: WHAT HAPPENED TO THOSE COSTS BUDGETS IN PRACTICE? “COMPARE AND MATCH” IS NOT ALWAYS AN ACCURATE GUIDE:THE KEY QUESTION IS – WHO WILL BE DOING THE MOST WORK?
The previous post looked at the judge’s general observations in this case. Here we look how those principles were applied in practice. It is clear that the arguments that the costs were excessive by way of comparison did not always…
COST BITES 350: KNOWING HOW JUDGES APPROACH BUDGETING WHEN ONE SIDE SEEKS MUCH MORE THAN ANOTHER: IS THE COURT A “SLAVE TO COMPARISON”?
It is always important, and enlightening, to have a close look at judicial observations on the nature of costs budgeting. We have a useful judgment here. The judge considered the applicable principles and guidance before carrying out budgeting in a…
COST BITES 347: CLAIMANTS FAILURE TO “CUT THEIR CLOTH” MEANT COSTS OF BUDGETING PROCESS WERE REDUCED BY 20%
We have seen several cases where an “overambitious” costs budget has led to a reduction or disallowance in the costs of budgeting. We have another example here. The claimants were effectively given a second chance to produce budgets having had…
COST BITES 343: AN OPPORTUNITY HAVE A CLOSE LOOK AT A CASE BEING BUDGETED: “I HAVE NO DOUBT THAT THE OVERALL FIGURE PUT FORWARD IS PRIMA FACIE DISPROPORTIONATE”
It is not often we get a chance to look at a budgeting decision. These cases are interesting and important because they show some light on the process. They also show the factors the courts consider when undertaking the budgeting…
BACK TO BASICS MONDAY: APPLYING TO VARY A COSTS BUDGET: WHAT YOU NEED TO SHOW
What does an applicant need to show if it wants to persuade the court to vary an existing costs budget? There was a helpful summary of the principles set out in a case we looked at last week. An application…
COST BITES 336: MOST OF THESE THINGS ARE NOT “SIGNIFICANT DEVELOPMENTS” AND DO NOT JUSTIFY A VARIATION IN THE BUDGET: THE JUDGE NOT PERSUADED ON THE USE OF LEADING COUNSEL, NEW SOLICITORS WITH HIGHER HOURLY RATES AND THINGS MISSED FROM THE FIRST BUDGET
Here we have a detailed analysis of a defendant’s application to vary (that is more than double) its original costs budget. At the PTR stage the defendant applied to double its costs budget, some of this was allowed, most was…
COST BITES 329: THE COURT’S APPROACH TO INTERIM PAYMENTS ON COSTS THAT ARISE FROM APPLICATIONS AND CLAIMS FOR “OVERSPENDS” – COSTS OUTSIDE THE BUDGET
Some of the basic principles upon which the courts make orders for interim payments are well established, particularly when the case has been budgeted. This case considers the appropriate approach when there is a claim for costs arising from interlocutory…
COST BITES 312: A CHANCE TO SEE COSTS BUDGETING IN ACTION: A CASE WHERE FUNDAMENTAL DISHONESTY IS ALLEGED AND THE CLAIMANT IS A PROTECTED PARTY
It is always interesting to read detailed decisions about costs budgeting. They are few and far between. We have a full judgment here where the Master deals with issues such as hourly rates, the impact of allegations of dishonesty and…
COST BITES 311: YES THIS CASE WAS COST BUDGETED (AND THE PAYING PARTIES AGREED THE BUDGET): “ONLY THE CLAIMANTS CAN CATEGORICALLY ATTEST WHETHER THEY AGREED THE DEFENDANTS’ BUDGET TACTICALLY OR NOT”
There may well be a practice of one party agreeing their opponent’s budget “tactically”. That is by agreeing that budget it is hoped that their own budget will look appropriate in comparison. That is one of the issues being considered…
COST BITES 308: SHOULD BUDGETING TAKE PLACE IN A £340 MILLION CASE? TAXIS DRIVERS WANT TO KNOW THE FARE IN ADVANCE
The usual “cut off” point for costs budgeting is £10 million. Here we are looking at a case where the court considering budgeting in a case with a value of £340 million. The judgment contains interesting, and important, observations on…
TALES FROM THE COST LAW CONFERENCE SOME BRIEF POINTS (3): COSTS JUDGE SIMON BROWN ON THE NUTS AND BOLTS OF COSTS BUDGETING
Costs Judge Brown makes the point here that costs budgeting is here to stay. There are a few basic issues, the “nuts and bolts” of budgeting which help ensure that the whole process runs smoothly. (You can never underestimate the…
COST BITES 292: AN EXAMPLE OF THE TRIAL PREPARATION AND TRIAL PHASE BEING BUDGETED (OH – AND COUNSEL DOESN’T GET A REFRESHER FOR A JUDICIAL READING DAY)
We continue to look at the case considered in the previous post. Having made the point that the budget is not so much about hourly rates but about the reasonableness and proportionality of the figures as a whole the judge…
COST BITES 291: WHEN BUDGETING THE HOURLY RATES SOUGHT CAN BE TOO HIGH, BUT THE PHASE TOTAL REASONABLE
At the budgeting phase of a case there are often disputes as to the appropriate hourly rates. The response is, usually, that it is not the court’s task on budgeting to set the hourly rates but to consider the reasonableness…
COST BITES 288: IS IT REALLY GOING TO COST £39,967.50 TO HOLD A MEETING BETWEEN LAWYERS? (AND THERE WILL BE TEN OF THEM…)
Here we are looking at a substantial reduction in a budget. The claimants here sought £39,967.50 for each meeting of the solicitors co-ordinating group litigation. The court was not happy with this… (When you are claiming £39,967.5o a meeting for…
COST BITES 287: YOU’VE AGREED FOUR LEADING COUNSEL FOR THE FIRST DAY OF THE TRIAL – ONLY TWO OF THEM ARE GETTING PAID AFTER THAT
When the parties agree a phase of a budget this can, on the face of it, have a knock on effect on the related phases. But, as Cab Calloway famously said – that ain’t necessarily so. In the case we…
COST (MEGA) BITES 286: AND YOU SAID THAT WITH AN “ADMIRABLY STRAIGHT FACE”: “OVERLAWYERING” CONSIDERED IN AN EXHAUSTING CASE
We are looking at a case that has already been subject to several posts on this site. In the previous decision about budgeting the claimants’ budgets were described as “absurdly high” and the arguments “strains all credulity”. The court is…
COST BITES 285: DOES THE COURT NEED TO VARY THE RECEIVING PARTY’S BUDGET WHEN IT HAS ORDERED THAT COSTS BE PAID ON AN INDEMNITY BASIS?
We are looking again at the award of indemnity costs. The judge ordered that costs be paid to the claimant on the indemnity basis. He then went on to consider whether, given that decision, it was necessary to retrospectively vary…
THE ROLE OF LEADING COUNSEL IN RELATION TO EXPERT REPORTS AND WITNESS STATEMENTS: A CLIENT CAN PAY FOR WHAT THEY WANT, BUT THESE COSTS WILL NOT BE RECOVERABLE INTER PARTES
How far should leading counsel, or counsel generally, be involved in the preparation of expert reports and witness statements? One obvious reply is “not at all”, given that the evidence should come from the expert or witness. These issues were…
COST BITES 236 : COSTS BUDGETING CAN BE RETROSPECTIVE : BUDGET CONSIDERED FROM THE DATE OF THE CCMC NOT 11 MONTHS LATER
Can the court ever set a costs budget retrospectively? In this case the judge held that it could, further there were good reasons for doing so in this case. “I do not accept that the Court is unable to…
COST BITES 232: COSTS JUDGE REJECTS ARGUMENT THAT THERE SHOULD BE A “SHORT CUT” TO APPROVAL OF SOLICITOR AND OWN CLIENT COSTS FROM A PROTECTED PARTY’S DAMAGES
A solicitor who wishes to deduct “solicitor and own client” costs in a case involving a minor or protected party requires approval by the Court. Here we have a case where the claimant’s solicitors argued, robustly, that the current process…
“THE DOG ATE MY HOMEWORK”: COURT REFUSES DEFENDANTS’ APPLICATION FOR RELIEF FROM SANCTIONS WHEN COSTS BUDGET WAS SERVED LATE: NOT DUE TO LATENESS BUT BECAUSE OF THE INADEQUATE BUDGET AND EXPLANATIONS GIVEN
In Stephen Herbert Hunt v Oceania Capital Reserves Limited & Ors [2025] EWHC 837 (Ch) Master Brightwell refused the second and third defendants application for relief from sanctions in a case where the costs budget was served late. However it…
VARDY -v- ROONEY: CLAIMANT’S ARGUMENT THAT DEFENDANT HAD BEEN GUILTY OF MISCONDUCT IN COSTS ASSESSMENT FAILS TO CROSS THE LINE
In Rebekah Vardy v Coleen Rooney [2025] EWHC 851 (KB) Mr Justice Cavanagh rejected the claimant’s arguments that the defendant’s solicitors had misconducted themselves improperly and that there should consequently be a disallowance of some of the costs claimed by the…
COST BITES 225: A PEEK INSIDE THE BUDGETING PROCESS: “PROPORTIONALITY TRUMPS REASONABLENESS”
We get a rare chance to look inside the costs budgeting process in the judgment of Master Brightwell in Atlantic Ways Holding SA v Freetown Terminal Holding Ltd [2025] EWHC 674 (Ch). The rationale behind each budgeting decision is set…
COST BITES 217: CLAIMANTS TO PAY THE DEFENDANTS’ COSTS OF THE BUDGETING HEARING: THE PROPOSED BUDGET WAS “ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE LINE”
We are returning to the judgment of Mr Justice Constable in GS Woodland Court GP 1 Ltd & Anor v RGCM Ltd & Ors [2025] EWHC 285 (TCC), looked in the previous post. Because of the nature of the budget that the…
COST BITES 216: THIS IS A CASE OF HIGH VALUE: HOWEVER THE CLAIMANTS’ COSTS ARE DISPROPORTIONAL AND THE HOURLY RATES ARE EXCESSIVE
This is the first of two posts looking at the costs budgeting judgment of Mr Justice Constable in GS Woodland Court GP 1 Ltd & Anor v RGCM Ltd & Ors [2025] EWHC 285 (TCC). The judge made observations in…
COST BITES 214: SHOULD THE COURT MAKE AN ORDER FOR COSTS AGAINST A CLAIMANT WHEN THE COSTS BUDGET HAS BEEN GREATLY REDUCED? THE ISSUES CONSIDERED
In Zavorotnii v Malinowski [2025] EWHC 260 (KB) HHJ Karen Walden-Smith considered the arguments as to whether a major reduction in a party’s costs budget should lead to an order for costs being made, rather than an order for costs…
THE COSTS JUDGE OVER YOUR SHOULDER: MAXIMISING COSTS RECOVERY ON AN INTER PARTIES RECOVER – THE LITIGATOR’S ROLE: WEBINAR 23rd JANUARY 2025
Detailed assessment usually takes place after attempts at settlement of costs have failed and there are some major differences between the parties. The webinar uses examples from reported cases to show where failures and omissions by the receiving party has…
THREE WEBINARS ON COSTS TO START OF THE CALENDAR (IF NOT THE FINANCIAL) YEAR
There are three webinars on costs this January of interest to most litigators. The first deals with the summary assessment of costs; the second the role of the litigator in detailed assessments and the third on the topic of deducting…
DELEGATION IN LITIGATION: A CASE TO POINT – AND A WEBINAR ON THE 9th DECEMBER 2024
It is often the function, if not the duty, of someone who writes about civil procedure to look at a decision and then extract the most uninteresting aspect of the case for wider publication. I am doing this in relation…
COST BITES 195: THE IMPORTANCE OF KEEPING TO COSTS BUDGETS: “GOOD REASONS” FOR DEPARTING AND PART 36 ISSUES
In A & V Building Solution Ltd v J & B Hopkins Ltd [2024] EWHC 2914 (TCC) Mr Roger Ter Haar KC considered the circumstances in which a successful party can go outside the scope of budgeted costs. “……
COST BITES 194: CLAIMANT WHO SUCCEEDED ON SOME, BUT NOT ALL, ISSUES AWARDED COSTS ON THE STANDARD BASIS
In FXS v The Mulberry Bush Organisation Ltd [2024] EWHC 2844 (KB) Margaret Obi, sitting as a High Court Judge, considered issues of costs where a claimant had not succeeded in establishing negligence at trial but was successful on other…
SENIOR MASTER COOK’S GUIDANCE ON COST MANAGEMENT HEARINGS: A PIECE BY PIECE GUIDE (2):DELEGATION
We are continuing with our detailed examination of the Kings Bench Masters Cost Management Hearings Guidance Note. This time we are looking at issues relating to delegation. Costs budgeting and Cost Judges encourage delegation. The problem for many practitioners is that…
SENIOR MASTER COOK’S GUIDANCE ON COST MANAGEMENT HEARINGS: A PIECE BY PIECE GUIDE (1): THE GENERAL APPROACH AND HOURLY RATES
Senior Master Cook published the Kings Bench Masters Cost Management Hearings Guidance Note on the 26th September. I am going through this on a topic by topic guide. Here we look at the general approach to budgeting and hourly rates. …
CLAIMANT FAILS IN APPLICATION TO HAVE APPEAL JUDGMENT SET ASIDE: THE SOLICITOR SHOULD HAVE NOTICED THE APPEAL HAD BEEN LISTED: LATE SERVICE MEANS COSTS BUDGET WAS ASSESSED AT NIL
The judgment of Mrs Justice Hill in Deng v Zhang & Anor [2024] EWHC 2392 (KB) shows a case with a whole history of errors and mishaps. The claimant failed to file a cost budget in time but obtained relief…
COST BITES 182: ANOTHER CASE OF A CLAIMANT PAYING THE COSTS OF A BUDGETING HEARING BECAUSE OF AN UNREALISTIC APPROACH
In Jenkins v Thurrock Council [2024] EWHC 2248 (KB) Master Thornett revisited the principles considered in Worcester v Hopley [2024] EWHC 2181 (KB) It was held that the claimant’s unrealistic figures in a costs budget should lead to the claimant paying…
COST BITES 180: EXCESSIVE BUDGET LEADS TO PARTY BEING ORDERED TO PAY THE COSTS OF A BUDGETING HEARING
In Nicholas Worcester v Dr Philip Hopley [2024] EWHC 2181 (KB) Master Thornett awarded costs against a party who, the Master felt, had over-inflated their costs budget. The case stands as a warning that a party putting forward a budget which is…
COST BUDGETS, VARIATIONS AND “SIGNIFICANT DEVELOPMENTS”: JUDGE REFUSES TO REVISE THE BUDGET AFTER TRIAL
In Rahman v Hassan & Ors (Re Consequential Matters) [2024] EWHC 2038 (Ch) HHJ Paul Matthews (sitting as a High Court Judge) refused the claimant’s application that the budget be revised after the trial. The judge held that the matters relied…
COST BITES 173: VARYING A COSTS BUDGET “AFTER THE EVENT”: IF THE APPLICATION WAS NOT “PROMPT” THE BUDGET WILL NOT BE VARIED
We are looking again at the decision in Khokan v Nirjhor (Re Costs) [2024] EWHC 1873 (KB), this time on the issue of costs budgeting. The judge considered the defendant’s budget in unusual circumstances. The claimant’s case had been struck…
“UNNECESSARILY ARGUMENTATIVE OR WASTEFUL CORRESPONDENCE” NOT COUNTENANCED IN COSTS BUDGETING: “IT TAKES TWO TO TANGO”
The post earlier this morning on “intemperate” comments in court documents and correspondence reminded me that I meant to highlight a particular aspect of the judgment in Pan NOx Emissions Litigations [2024] EWHC 1728 (KB). The judgment highlights that unnecessarily argumentative…
COST (MEGA) BITES 168: AN EXHAUSTING READ (V): BUDGETS THAT ARE DESCRIBED AS “ABSURDLY HIGH”, “WHOLLY EXCESSIVE” AND WHICH “STRAINS ALL CREDULITY”
Unsurprisingly we are returning to the judgment in Pan NOx Emissions Litigations [2024] EWHC 1728 (KB). The judges gave some examples of parts of the claimants’ budgets in particular that had been “overbudgeted”. They were not shy IN setting out their…
COST (MEGA) BITES 167: AN EXHAUSTING CASE (IV): “BUT YOURS IS NEARLY AS BIG AS MINE” IS NOT A GOOD ARGUMENT: COSTS BUDGETS COULD NOT BE COMPARED
We are continuing to look at the judgment in relation to the budgets in Pan NOx Emissions Litigations [2024] EWHC 1728 (KB). In this post we are considering the argument that since claimants’ budget was very similar to the defendants’…
COST (MEGA) BITES 166: AN EXAUSTING CASE (iii): “THE CLAIMANTS’ APPROACH TO BUDGETING IS REDOLENT OF FINANCIAL INCONTINENCE”
The general observations made about the budgets in Pan NOx Emissions Litigations [2024] EWHC 1728 (KB) is of importance. The court was particularly scathing of the claimants’ budget. It also rejected the claimants’ contention that the defendants’ budget had been artificially…
COST (MEGA) BITES 165: AN EXHAUSTING CASE (ii): PROPORTIONALITY WHERE THE CLAIMANTS CLAIM THE CASE IS WORTH £6 BILLION: THE PARTIES ARE NOT HANDED A BLANK CHEQUE FOR THE PURPOSE OF RECOVERABLE COSTS
We are continuing with the examination of the judgment of Mr Justice Constable and Senior Costs Judge Saker in Pan NOx Emissions Litigations [2024] EWHC 1728 (KB). This time by looking at the court’s consideration of issues of proportionality when…
COST (MEGA) BITES 164: AN EXHAUSTING CASE:COSTS BUDGETING WHEN THE BUDGETS TOTAL £650 MILLION (1): GENERAL PRINCIPLES
The judgment of Mr Justice Constable sitting with Senior Costs Judge Saker in Pan NOx Emissions Litigations [2024] EWHC 1728 (KB) contains much that is of interest to litigators. The judges budgeted a case where the claimants sought over £342…
COST BITES 159: DEDUCTING COSTS FROM THE CLIENT’S DAMAGES: THE GOLDEN RULE – THAT THE CLIENT SHOULD BE KEPT INFORMED
We are looking again at the judgment in St. James v Wilkin Chapman LLP [2024] EWHC 1716 (KB). The judge considered the question of whether the client had been informed that the budget had been exceeded and that the solicitors…
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