‘Westminster City Council can recover “reasonable” licensing fees and enforcement costs charged to various sex shops in Soho, London, even though these fees were later found to be in breach of an EU directive, the UK’s highest court has ruled.’
OUT-LAW.com, 21st July 2017
Source: www.out-law.com
‘The City of Westminster Council has won a key victory at the Supreme Court in the long-running battle over the level of fees that local authorities can charge licensed premises.’
Local Government Lawyer, 20th July 2017
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘The civil courts recorded a surplus of more than £100m in 2016-17, their biggest profit to date, according to the annual report of HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS).’
Litigation Futures, 18th July 2017
Source: www.litigationfutures.com
‘The Legal Aid Agency has been told to directly apologise and pay £10,000 to an expert witness in immigration cases for causing him distress, inconvenience and financial loss by excessively auditing his bills.’
Law Society's Gazette, 17th July 2017
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
‘Personal injury (PI) lawyers may have experienced a powerful sense of deja vu last week when the government announced a review of fees in holiday sickness claims. The same apocalyptic warnings of rampant fraud; the same incessant lobbying from a trade body. And ultimately the same solution – fixed costs – provided by ministers who would rather the whole thing just went away.’
Law Society's Gazette, 17th July 2017
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
‘Government officials should look at reducing the cost of employment tribunal fees, according to Matthew Taylor, who today publishes a long-awaited review into employment rights of workers in the gig economy.’
The Independent, 11th July 2017
Source: www.independent.co.uk
‘The profession should soon have an answer to the question of when a conditional fee agreement (CFA) can be assigned from one law firm to another as the Court of Appeal is hearing a test case today.’
Litigation Futures, 5th July 2017
Source: www.litigationfutures.com
‘The Court of Appeal has refused to consider a circuit judge ruling which held that failure by a solicitor to correctly value a personal injury claim and pay the right court fee did not amount to an abuse of process.’
Litigation Futures, 20th June 2017
Source: www.litigationfutures.com
Hyde v Milton Keynes NHS Foundation Trust [2017] EWCA Civ 399
‘The claimant brought a personal injury claim against the defendant under a Community Legal Service funding certificate which was subject to costs limitations. Although the defendant had admitted liability, quantum remained in issue. With the funding certificate nearing exhaustion and the Legal Services Commission refusing further funding, the claimant’s solicitors concluded that the case could not be completed on a funded basis. Accordingly, the claimant entered into a conditional fee agreement (“CFA”) with her solicitors. The solicitors served on the defendant notice of a change in funding arrangements but took no steps to apply for or obtain a formal discharge of the funding certificate. The claim later settled, the defendant having made an increased offer which the claimant accepted. On the assessment of costs, the costs judge concluded that the claimant was entitled to recover from the defendant her costs arising under the CFA, rejecting the defendant’s contention that the CFA was unenforceable by virtue of sections 10(1) and 22(2) of the Access to Justice Act 1999 because it had been entered into at a time when the claimant was “funded” by the commission as part of the Community Legal Service. The judge dismissed the defendant’s appeal, holding that the claimant was not “funded” by the commission, for the purposes of sections 10(1) and 22(2), once the funding certificate had been exhausted, even though the certificate had not been discharged.’
WLR Daily, 23rd May 2017
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
‘The Court of Appeal has upheld a conditional fee agreement entered into because legal aid had run out – even though the legal aid certificate had not been formally discharged.’
Law Society’s Gazette, 24th May 2017
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
‘The Medical Protection Society (MPS) has called on the government to be more “bold” with its proposals to introduced fixed costs for clinical negligence cases by including cases worth up to £250,000 – 10 times the proposed limit.’
Litigation Futures, 25th April 2017
Source: www.litigationfutures.com
‘Controversial plans to raise the legal fees payable after death are to be scrapped ahead of the general election.
Probate fees had been due to rise from £155 or £215 to up to £20,000 for some estates in England and Wales from May.
The Ministry of Justice said there was now not enough time for the legislation – dubbed a “stealth death tax” by critics – to go through Parliament.’
BBC News, 21st April 2017
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘The Supreme Court has ruled against three leading newspaper groups over having to pay claimants’ success fees and after-the-event insurance under the pre-LASPO regime, saying that the media’s rights under the European Convention on Human Rights were not engaged as critically as the rights of those suing them.’
Litigation Futures, 11th April 2017
Source: www.litigationfutures.com
‘Employment tribunal fees were ‘a barrier to victims seeking justice when they have suffered human rights abuses’, according to an influential group of MPs. The House of Commons’ joint committee on human rights have added their collective voice to the justice and equalities committees in calling on the Government to cut the charges introduced in 2013.’
Legal Voice, 11th April 2017
Source: www.legalvoice.org.uk
‘Employment tribunal fees create impunity to bosses abusing human rights, parliamentarians have said, accusing the Ministry of Justice of complacency on some of the barriers faced by people seeking access to justice.’
Law Society’s Gazette, 6th April 2017
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
‘Government plans to raise £300m by increasing probate fees – payable when claiming inheritances – may not be legally enforceable, a parliamentary committee has said. A report by the joint committee on statutory instruments has suggested that the Ministry of Justice may not have the authority to introduce the charges of up to £20,000 per estate.’
The Guardian, 6th April 2017
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
‘Transitional provisions allowing the recoverability of solicitors’ success fees and an after the event (ATE) insurance premium after April 2013 extend to where the policy is assigned, and where the case is later appealed, the Supreme Court has ruled.’
OUT-LAW.com, 31st March 2017
Source: www.out-law.com
‘R (o.t.a Minton Morrill Solicitors) v. The Lord Chancellor [2017] EWHC 612 (Admin) 24 March 2017, Kerr J. This exam-style question arose, in an attempt by solicitors to be paid by the Legal Aid Agency for some work they had done on two applications to Strasbourg. The underlying cases were housing, the first an attempt to stave off possession proceedings, and the second the determination of whether an offer of “bricks and mortar” accommodation to an Irish traveller was one of “suitable accommodation”. Both applications were declared inadmissible by the European Court of Human Rights, and thus could not benefit from that Court’s own legal aid system.’
UK Human Rights Blog, 30th March 2017
Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com
© Inner Temple Library 2024