I am grateful to Sam Hayman from Bolt Burdon Kemp for sending me a copy of the decision of Mr Justice Freedman in The Scout Association -v- Bolt Burdon Kemp [2023] EWHC 2575 (KB). On appeal Freedman J upheld the…
The Courts and Tribunals (Fee Remissions and Miscellaneous Amendments) Order 2023 increases the capital and income limits for fee remission from the 27th November 2023. The Order is available here. The explanatory notes are set out below. CAPITAL CHANGES…
In Diag Human SE & Anor v Volterra Fietta (Re Assessment Under Part III Solicitors Act 1974) [2023] EWCA Civ 1107 the Court of Appeal upheld earlier judgments that solicitors, acting under a conditional fee agreement that claimed more than…
It is ten years since the publication of the Handbook for Litigants in Person. It can be found here. I wrote about it, briefly, when it was first published. Although there have been some procedural changes since the section on…
The judgment of Mr Justice Turner in Glaser & Anor v Atay [2023] EWHC 2539 (KB) is one that needs to be looked at by every barrister involved in direct access work, and their clerks. The judge found that a…
Working remotely can give rise to additional pressures on litigators, particularly in relation to procedural issues and dealing with problems that occur in litigation and with clients. This webinar looks at the major pitfalls that can occur in personal injury…
Normally I use first-hand judgments to write about cases. However I think it important to point people towards the case reported by PIC Legal “Time for a Retainer Review”. This reports on the judgment of Costs Judge James in IXG (by his…
In the judgment given today in Soares v Wilson [2023] EW Misc 11 (CC) HHJ Luba KC rejected an application that costs be paid by a non-party. The defendant’s application that a PLC pay the costs of the action because…
In Telford And Wrekin Council v Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities & Anor [2023] EWHC 2439 (Admin) Mr Justice Eyre held that a claim form had been served late. Further the claimant did not come within…
In Hope Capital Ltd v Alexander Reece Thomson LLP [2023] EWHC 2389 (KB) Mr Justice Constable found that the claimant had suffered no loss. This could be an expensive loss for the claimant, after a seven day trial. “”For these…
The fixed costs provisions provide a “London Weighting” of an additional 12.5%. “London” has a specific meaning as defined in the Practice Direction set out below. CPR 45.3 Additional costs for work in specified areas (‘London weighting’) 45.3.—(1) Where…
We are continuing with our bite sized examination of the fixed costs regime by looking at CPR 45.13. This allows the court to reduce, or increase, the fixed costs for “unreasonable behaviour”. The rule appears only to allow this variation…
The rules make provision allowing the court to award a higher sum for damages when a party, or witness is vulnerable. However there are significant caveats. It must be the vulnerability that has required additional work to be undertaken and the…
One of the issues decided by Mr Justice Mellor in Crypto Open Patent Alliance v Wright [2023] EWHC 2408 (Ch) related to the attempts by a party (COPA) to adduce expert evidence from other trials by way of hearsay evidence…
Continuing the examination of fixed recoverable costs. CPR 45.9 gives the court power to order sums greater than FRC in “exceptional circumstances”. The applicant’s difficulties are (i) there is no definition of exceptional circumstances (ii) there is a real sting…
Claims for reduction of life expectancy or for losses prior to death can be difficult and complex. They require a highly sensitive approach. They also require a large degree of knowledge of the relevant legal principles. There are traps and…
The new rules introduce a fixed percentage as an “additional liability” in cases where a case is subject to fixed costs and a case has Part 36 costs consequences. Where a claimant has beaten their own offer and, normally, an…
This weeks HMCTS update contains the news that Leeds Business and Property Court is moving in early 2024, to the fourth Floor of Westgate House. Over the road from the Combined Court Centre. MOVING TO WEST GATE Leeds Business and…
I suspect that this blog will be writing about fixed costs for some time to come. To mark (I won’t say “celebrate”) the start of the new regime I have done a round up previous posts, useful lectures and webinars…
The new costs rules introduce a new concept of the “complexity band”. Here we look at the bands within the intermediate track and the rules relating to helping the court in relation to allocation within those bands. COMPLEXITY BANDS…
The judgment of Mr Justice Constable in Innovate Pharmaceuticals Ltd v University of Portsmouth Higher Education Corporation [2023] EWHC 2394 (TCC) contains another interesting insight into the preparation of trial bundles and how that, in itself, can become highly contentious. …
We are returning to the judgment of Mr Justice Julian Knowles in Morgan-Rowe v Woodgate [2023] EWHC 2375 (KB). This looks at the judge’s view of attempting to run an argument that was not made at trial (indeed, in part, admitted…
The judgment of Mr Justice Julian Knowles in Morgan-Rowe v Woodgate [2023] EWHC 2375 (KB) makes some important points about the duty of disclosure. A party giving disclosure doesn’t have to disclose details of their spouses’/partners accounts. “A married couple…
There are some important observations on expert evidence in the judgment of Mrs Justice Bacon in Sycurio Ltd v PCI-Pal PLC & Anor [2023] EWHC 2161 (Pat). An expert must give evidence within the scope of their expertise. To assert…
The purpose of this series is to look at the most basic elements of civil procedure. One, very common, omission practitioners make is to fail to follow the mandatory requirements of Practice Direction 32 in relation to the information on…
In a post-script to the judgment in Invest Bank PSC v El-Husseini & Ors [2023] EWHC 2302 (Comm) Stephen Houseman KC, sitting as High Court Judge, raised concerns over the number of authorities cited and the impact this has on…
There are particularly difficult and sensitive issues involved when a fatal case involves a child dependant, or it is a a child that is killed. A webinar on the 4th October 2023 looks at the particular difficulties and examines the…
The judgment of Mr Justice Freedman in Nash v Volskwagen Financial Services (UK) Ltd [2023] EWHC 2326 (KB) contains important observations in relation to the law and evidence relating to causation. However I want to look at the judge’s consideration…
Continuing with the series about the new rules relating to fixed costs. Here we recap on those cases that are not affected by the rules (because of the commencement date) and those issues that must be allocated to the multi-track….
The weekly HMCTS update reports that a number of courts are closed due to industrial action. The update lists those courts that were closed last Friday. Presumably there is a strong probability that the same courts will be closed on…
The new rules introduce the “intermediate track”. Here we look at the factors that lead to allocation to that track. From the 1st October 2023 we have a new CPR 26.9. The small claims track remains. The fast track is…
The new fixed costs provisions introduce the concept of the “Intermediate Track”. One point to note about this track is that there are specific rules about applying for directions. There are also very specific obligations in relation to the length…
This is the third in our series looking at the articles by the retired Canadian judge, The Honourable Joseph Quinn. This is the second part of an article where the (retired) judge considers the advantages, and disadvantages, of settling cases…
Anyone planning to turn up to Manchester Civil Justice Centre on the 22nd, 25th, 27th or 29th September should know that a formal notice has been sent out stating that the Centre is closed on those dates due to Security…
The 159th update – Practice Direction Amendments was published yesterday and came into force at 11.00 today. (I am told that this is an improvement over some previous amendments which came into force before they were published). THE PRACTICE DIRECTION The update…
In Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank PJSC v Shetty & Ors [2020] EWHC 3423 (Comm) [a case newly arrived on BAILII) Mr Justice Bryan held that s.1140 of the Companies Act 2006 can be used to serve proceedings on a director,…
In Simon v Simon & Anor [2023] EWCA Civ 1048 the Court of Appeal considered the function of a litigation funder in matrimonial proceedings. The role is an important one and those providing funding are entitled to some measure of…
RECENT CASES IN FATAL ACCIDENT LITIGATION – WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM THEM? WEBINAR 25th SEPTEMBER 2023
Fatal accident cases can give rise to practical and technical issues that require a detailed knowledge of the relevant principles and case law. On the 25th September 2023 I am presenting a webinar looking at recent decisions in fatal cases…
The latest Administrative Court Judicial Review Guide is available on the link here. It may well be ahead of time (it is dated October 2023). THE CONTENTS It includes guidance on: litigants in person civil restraint orders starting a claim…
The new rules as to fixed costs are coming soon. Kerry Underwood is undertaking a national tour of day long lectures on the fixed costs provisions. It cannot be stressed enough that the new rules are of significance to all…
“New” rules as to summary judgment come into force on the 1st October 2023. These are part of the process of “simplifying” the rules. The rules are introduced by the Civil Procedure (Amendment No.3) Rules 2023 THE NEW RULES “PART…
The Civil Procedure (Amendment No.3) Rules 2023 introduce a “new” Part 14 on admissions. The is not to make any substantial changes but are part of a process of simplifying the rules. So, for instance, the criteria for seeking to…
In Ivanishvili v Signature Litigation LLP [2023] EWHC 2189 (SCCO) Costs Judge Leonard rejected an argument that a series of bills rendered by a solicitor were “statutory” bills. This meant that all the bills could be subject to assessment. The…
In Jones v Tracey & Ors (Re Costs) [2023] EWHC 2256 (Ch) Master Marsh (sitting in retirement) found that Part 36 applied to cases that were not about money. It was held that the fact that the action would be…
It is a sign of the times when the Designated Civil Judge sends out a message dealing with pressures on the Court, and staff in particular. Manchester Law Society has a “Message from the Designated Civil Judge” in which the…
In Ali v HSF Logistics Polska SP ZOO [2023] EWHC 2159 (KB) Mr Justice Martin Spencer considered the question of whether there was a “targeted” defence of illegality to a claim for damages which was not as all embracing as…
I am grateful to barrister Justin Bates for drawing my attention to the final paragraphs of the judgment of Mr Justice Fordham in Debenham-Schon v Anchor Hanover Group [2021] EWHC 3023 (QB). It concerns the duty of a litigant to…
In Walter Hugh Merricks CBE v Mastercard Incorporated and Others [2023] CAT 53 the Competition Appeal Tribunal held that the hourly rates charged by both sides were too high to be recovered inter partes. The Guideline rates still provide a guide…
I was at a social event on Friday night (but a blogger is never really off duty). During the course of the evening someone told me that they had had recently had a personal injury case where the judge, rather…
We are continuing with our look at articles by the retired Canadian judge, The Honourable Joseph Quinn. For those who haven’t read them. For those unfamiliar with his work it is always worth reading Things Lawyers do to Annoy Judges, and…
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