In a highly litigious world that we find ourselves living in today, it is increasingly likely that Solicitors will find themselves in a position where they are involved in Litigation concerning their own Cases/affairs. Is it therefore fair that a Solicitor can recover their usual retainer hourly rate from the paying party for work undertaken…
Hislop –v- Perde The Court of Appeal have finally provided clarification on the important question of whether, in a claim which begins on the Low Value Protocol but later exits and settlement is reached upon the Defendant accepting a Part 36 offer out of time, the Claimant is still only entitled to fixed costs. Unfortunately…
A leading city law firm were acting for the Russian airline Aeroflot in a case now discontinued where the airline has been ordered to pay indemnity costs for case which raised serious allegations of fraud. In the ruling over costs in the case of PJSC Aeroflot – Russian Airlines v Leeds & Anor (Trustees of…
Powell & Ors v The Chief Constable of West Midlands Police [2018] EWHC B12 (Costs) The Facts: The Claimants sought to bring an action following the death of Mikey Powell whilst he was in police custody. The Police were called because Mr Powell had deteriorating mental health problems; the Police car arrived and deliberately drove the…
Arjomandkhah v Nasrouallahi [2018] EWHC B11 (Costs) In this matter before Master Leonard at the SCCO, the Court rejected the Claimant’s argument that the Defendant’s costs, which were approximately one-third of the Claimant’s costs budget) were disproportionate. The case before the SCCO was an appeal following a Detailed Assessment by a Costs Officer of the…
The recent case of JXA v Kettering General Hospital NHS Foundation Trust [2018] EWHC 1747 (QB) provides interesting reading regarding the continued importance of Wraith v. Sheffield Forgemasters Ltd, Truscott v. Truscott [1998] 1 WLR 132 (CA) and once again highlights the broad discretion available to a Judge under CPR44.4. The substantive action was a…
Following the ruling in the case of R (Adath Yisroel Burial Society and another) v HM Senior Coroner for Inner North London [2018] EWHC 969 in which it was found at judicial review that the “cab-rank rule” approach to burials was unlawful, the defendant coroner was ordered to pay £68,000 on account of costs due…
Malone v Birmingham Community NHS Trust [2018] EWCA Civ 1376 Wrongly named Defendants in CFAs is a recurring issue with various non-binding and conflicting decisions on the issue including Brierley v Prescott [2006] EWHC 90062 (Costs), Law v Liverpool City Council [2005] EWHC 90020 (Costs), Scott v Transport for London (2009) (unreported) and Brookes v…
This is an ongoing issue and one that crops up on a lot of cases that we see come through our doors. In the first instance, in Sprey v Rawlison Butler LLP [2018] EWHC 354 (QB) Master Rowley found that the monthly bills delivered to a client by his Solicitor under a discounted CFA were statute Bills.…
Bratek v Clark-Drain Ltd (2018) Fixed Recoverable Costs, it has been five years now since they were implemented in their current form, yet there is still so much ambiguity amongst the legal community as to the correct amount of costs to be paid on some cases. Of course, Fixed Costs do not apply to all…