PERSONAL INJURY COSTS 2021: WATCH THE “SAINT AND GREAVSIE” OF THE COSTS BAR
My colleagues Craig Ralph and Andrew Hogan have delivered a webinar “Personal Injury Costs 2021” which is now available on the Kings Chambers website. THE WEBINAR The webinar takes you through the hot topics relating to personal injury costs. …
SANCTIONS FOR LATE FAILURE TO FILE A COSTS BUDGET DO NOT APPLY TO INCURRED COSTS: REPORT OF A COUNTY COURT DECISION
Recommended reading today is a useful report from PIC available here in relation to a decision in Hardy -v- Skeelis (4th March 2021, County Court at Stoke, HHJ Rawlings). The appeal decision confirms that the sanctions imposed for failing to…
“THE DEVELOPING BODY OF LAW AS TO THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN COSTS MANAGEMENT AND DETAILED ASSESSMENT”: INTERIM ORDER FOR COSTS AFTER A TRIAL: 90% OF BUDGETED COSTS 70% OF INCURRED COSTS
The courts have been supportive of applications for interim costs for a successful party after a trial. The interim payment at this stage is not nominal and is normally firmly based on the budgeted costs. A working example can be…
CIVIL PROCEDURE BACK TO BASICS 89: THE 2% CAP ON COSTS BUDGETING: SOMETHING TO WATCH OUT FOR
Some draft orders for CCMCs I have seen recently included, towards the end a provision for the 2% cap on the budgeting process to be be applied. Anyone faced with such a draft should point to the provisions of CPR…
YOU CAN’T CLAIM THE COSTS OF ADVERTISING FOR CLIENTS IN YOUR COST BUDGET: YOU REALLY CAN’T
An interesting point arose in the judgment of Mr Justice Saini in Weaver & Ors v British Airways Plc [2021] EWHC 217 (QB). The costs of advertising for clients to join a Group Litigation Order are not recoverable, they were…
Senior Courts Costs Office Guide – the 2021 version is now available
The latest version of the Senior Court Costs Office Guide is available from today. THE GUIDE The Guide is available on a link here. The Guide now only exists electronically although the notes observe that it may be…
SOLICITOR AND OWN CLIENT COSTS: NO SENSE OF PROPORTIONALITY HERE: SOME BASIC POINTS ON BILLS
In Belsner v Cam Legal Services Ltd [2020] EWHC 2755 (QB) the parties were arguing about £385.40. The judge observed “According to their statements of costs, the Claimant and the Defendant have spent £52,575.63 and £35,139.70 respectively on this appeal. That…
COSTS BUDGETING: PRECEDENT T: EXCEL VERSION
I am grateful to Sean Linley for sending me an excel version of the new Precedent T. It gives me another chance to remind people of the new rules that come into force and and post photos of cars that…
THE NEW COSTS MANAGEMENT PRACTICE DIRECTION: COMING INTO FORCE 1st OCTOBER 2020: READ IT HERE
The new Costs Management Practice Direction comes into force on the 1st October 2020. It is set out in full below. SOME POINTS OF INTEREST The specific exclusion of cases where the claimant has a limited life expectancy (which…
THE NEW PRECEDENT T: SEE IT HERE: A MODEL OF ITS KIND…
I am grateful to Sean Linley for sending me a copy of the new Precedent T that will apply to amended budgets after the 1st October 2020. You can see it here. Precedent T Example THE NEW RULES…
CHANGES COMING INTO FORCE IN OCTOBER 2: NEW RULES AS TO COSTS BUDGETS
The 122nd update Practice Direction Amendments come into force on the 1st October 2020. Some of the changes relate to costs budgeting. We will look at these in more detail nearer the time they come into force. So that people…
COSTS ISSUES IN A CASE WHERE THE CLAIMANTS HAVE TO PAY £30 MILLION: WHY IT IS UNWISE TO BANK ON WINNING
A reminder of the sheer size, and major dangers, of group litigation can be seen in the judgment today in Sharp & Ors v Blank & Ors [2020] EWHC 1870 (Ch). The judgment relates to the costs of the action…
THE CAP ON RECOVERABLE COSTS OF COSTS BUDGETING IS EXCLUSIVE OF VAT: JUDGMENT TODAY
In Marbrow v Sharpes Garden Services Ltd [2020] EWHC B26 (Costs) Senior Costs Judge Gordon-Saker considered the issue of whether the cap on recoverable costs of the costs assessment process are inclusive, or exclusive of value added tax. (There are…
ASSESSMENT OF COSTS: UNDER SPEND OF A PHASE – NOT A GOOD REASON TO DEPART FROM THE BUDGET
In Utting v City College Norwich [2020] EWHC B20 (Costs) Master Brown rejected an argument that an “underspend” amounted to a good reason to depart from a budget. I am grateful to Paul Kay from R Costings for drawing this…
CORONAVIRUS CATCH UP 2: COSTS AND BUDGETING
Here there are short snippets of cases relating to costs decision in the past month or so which may have been displaced by the commentary on COVID-19. Rippon Patel And French LLP v Mowlam [2020] EWHC 1079 (QB) An…
CIVIL PROCEDURE AND COSTS: BLOG AND ARTICLES ROUND UP – MARCH 2020 (CORONAVIRUS FREE EDITION)
Links and articles to blog posts and articles available online in February 2020 (a separate post will deal with the many posts and articles last month on civil procedure and coronavirus). Costs Costs Barrister Hot air Costs Barrister Digital in design Association…
CHALLENGING COST BUDGET PHASES ON ASSESSMENT: DECISION TODAY: PARTY CHALLENGING BUDGETED PHASE HAS AN UPHILL TASK
My colleague Paul Hughes has provided a link to a judgment today of District Judge Lumb in the case of Chapman -v- Norfolk & Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, available here. The judgment considers the issue of when a…
INDEMNITY COSTS ON THE GROUNDS OF CONDUCT: FAILURE TO BEAT A DEFENDANT’S PART 36 OFFER: A GARDEN THAT GETS MORE AND MORE EXPENSIVE…
The Court of Appeal decision in Lejonvarn v Burgess & Anor [2020] EWCA Civ 114 is the second time this case, about a garden, has been on appeal. On this occasion the Court of Appeal held that the claimants’ conduct…
LATE COSTS BUDGET: RELIEF FROM SANCTIONS GRANTED: DEFENDANT DROPPED THE BALL BUT THIS WAS FORGIVABLE
In Manchester Shipping Ltd v Balfour Shipping Ltd & Anor [2020] EWHC 164 (Comm) Lionel Persey QC (sitting as a Deputy High Court Judge) granted relief from sanctions to a defendant who had filed a costs budget late. The case…
CIVIL PROCEDURE AND COSTS: BLOG AND ARTICLES ROUND UP – JANUARY 2020
Links and articles to blog posts and articles available online in January 2020 Costs Costs Barrister Conditional fee agreements and contentious business agreements Association for Costs Lawyers Oversight regulator praises CLSB’s “considerable progress” Association for Costs Lawyers Offer acceptance applied only to accident…