‘A family court judge has described a case where the two parties racked up costs of £5.5m as “one of the most shameless pieces of litigation” he has ever seen.’
Legal Futures, 20th March 2023
Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk
‘A claimant’s 90/10 liability offer went against both the letter and spirit of civil procedure rules on Part 36, a High Court judge has ruled.’
Law Society's Gazette, 16th March 2023
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
‘The Law Society has pulled together figures from law firms, technology and business – as well as the former Senior President of Tribunals – to support a project looking at how the justice system can be made “fit for the future”.’
Legal Futures, 14th March 2023
Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk
‘A single mother and domestic abuse survivor is taking the Ministry of Justice to court this week after being refused legal aid because she was deemed to have no dependents, even though she had applied for the funding to enforce a child custody arrangement.’
The Guardian, 6th March 2023
Source: www.theguardian.com
‘A rare sitting of the Election Court has agreed to withdraw a petition for a council election to be declared void after receiving “conclusive evidence” that the petitioner handed packets of dates to potential voters.’
Law Society's Gazette, 28th February 2023
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
‘The High Court has allowed a will beneficiary to challenge a costs bill which rose significantly from its original estimate.’
Law Society’s Gazette, 10th February 2023
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
‘A landlord who put three flats into the basement of one of his properties in Camberwell has been ordered to pay more than £52,000 in illegal gains, fines and costs.’
Local Government Lawyer, 30th January 2023
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘A claimant who discontinued his personal injury case on the morning of trial should still be entitled to costs protection, the Court of Appeal has ruled.’
Law Society’s Gazette, 18th January 2023
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
‘The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has been sanctioned in costs after prematurely stating on its website that it had banned a former trainee solicitor from working for law firms.’
Legal Futures, 16th January 2023
Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk
‘The High Court has rejected a defendant’s plea for a costs management order regarding a child’s clinical negligence case which could still have years to run. Master Cook stated that the policy of children’s cases being exempt from costs management should be adhered to, even if the defendant was unhappy with the costs incurred so far.’
Law Society's Gazette, 13th January 2023
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
‘It is commonplace now for the trustee of almost any sort of trust to be a company, and for the individuals who may colloquially be referred to as “the trustees” to in fact not be trustees at all, but to be the directors of the trustee company. Occupational pension schemes have been particularly keen adopters of this structure. In some respects it makes little difference to the beneficiaries: the trustee is the trustee, whether an individual or a company. But when the individuals involved are alleged to have acted in breach of their duties, the corporate structure allows for more complex claims than the ordinary breach of trust claim that would be brought against individual trustees.’
Wilberforce Chambers, 20th December 2022
Source: www.wilberforce.co.uk
Boundary disputes, whether concerning large or small amounts of land, are evidentially and legally complex. As a result, they often involve significant costs. In Davis & Anor v Winner, His Honour Judge Mithani KC, in somewhat of a surprising judgment, stated, obiter dictum, that to prevent disproportionate costs in boundary disputes involving a small amount of land they should be allocated to the Small Claims Track (“SCT”). Davis has been subsequently relied upon by District Judges to allocate analogous cases to the SCT. However, given the complex characteristics of boundary disputes, it is necessary to undertake a detailed assessment of their suitability for the SCT.
Pallant Chambers, 14th December 2022
Source: www.pallantchambers.co.uk
‘The issue of the recoverability of VAT in the assessment of costs is unusual, but a 20% difference in the sum to be paid as a paying party can be very significant. The issue became very contentious in this case, with the RP contending in their skeleton argument that the point raised was “bizarre and bound to fail”.’
Guildhall Chambers, 6th December 2022
Source: www.guildhallchambers.co.uk
‘Two recent decisions on the application of qualified one-way-costs-shifting (“QOCS”), of the High Court in Chappell v Mrozek [2022] EWHC 3147 (KB), and of the Court of Appeal in Harrison v University Hospitals of Derby & Burton NHS Foundation Trust [2022] EWCA Civ 1660, reinforce the difficulty that personal injury and clinical negligence defendants will face in obtaining enforceable costs orders other than where the claimant obtains an order for damages at trial1. Defendants will generally be unable to enforce costs orders where the claim is settled via Part 36, even if an order of the court is required to enforce the settlement, to permit the claimant to accept the offer, or to direct that the amount payable to the claimant is reduced by the amount of any deductible benefits.’
Hailsham Chambers, 3rd January 2023
Source: www.hailshamchambers.com
‘The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) can enforce a £15,000 costs order against a struck-off solicitor more than 12 years after it was made, the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) has ruled.’
Legal Futures, 6th January 2023
Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk
‘The High Court has ruled that a costs bill can be challenged after the one-year time limit for requesting detailed assessment. In Menzies v Oakwood Solicitors, Mr Justice Bourne said Leeds firm Oakwood Solicitors had not made clear to a former client the procedure for objecting to the deduction of costs from his damages. Payment was therefore not effected by a settlement of account and a challenge could still be made.’
Law Society's Gazette, 16th December 2022
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
‘A powerful new lobby has joined the fight to stop the government capping costs for clinical negligence claims worth less than £25,000. Some 28 families involved in the Shrewsbury and Telford maternity scandal have signed an open letter to health secretary Steve Barclay opposing the proposals.’
Law Society's Gazette, 19th December 2022
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
‘The High Court rejected a defendant’s bid to escape the full rigour of the qualified one-way costs shifting (QOCS) regime in a ruling handed down this week.’
Law Society's Gazette, 15th December 2022
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
‘The operator and publisher of a website is not entitled to participate in court proceedings under the pseudonym “Cøbra” – even with legal representation, the High Court has ruled. In Wright v Persons Unknown, Costs Judge Rowley agreed to bar “Cøbra” from costs proceedings arising from a copyright case unless it identifies itself and provides an address.’
Law Society's Gazette, 25th November 2022
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
‘The Court of Appeal has signalled the possibility of a non-party costs order in the Belsner case after ordering the claimant to make an interim costs payment of £130,000.’
Legal Futures, 16th November 2022
Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk
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