Jack Andrew Since 1st April 2013, costs litigation has been a rollercoaster, with several wide-ranging changes being made from fixed costs, cost budgeting, electronic billing and QWOCs, to name just a few. As such, dates have been permanently etched in practitioner’s minds, and, from a cursory glance at Linkedin and prominent commentators on the…
Avi Dolties XDE v North Middlesex University Hospital Trust [2019] EWHC 1482 (QB) The claim arose from a delay in the diagnosis of the Claimant’s meningitis with devastating consequences. The issues of liability and causation were concluded by agreement in July 2016 on the basis of a 98%/2% apportionment. Following the agreement in respect…
David Knowles Seekings and another v Moores and others [2019] EWHC 1476 (Comm) (7 June 2019) The above judgment relates to a Defendant’s Application for an upward revision of its Budget of approximately £130,000 for what it considered to be a significant development in the action. The litigation arises from the parties’ involvement in…
Jessica Wiggins YZ (a protected party proceeding by way of her litigation friend) v Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust [2019] EWHC B4 (Costs) (11 April 2019). The question of whether or not it was reasonable for the Claimant to have moved from Legal Aid funding to CFA funding came before Master Gordon Saker in…
Helen Appleby Ainsworth v Stewarts Law LLP [2019] 2 WLUK 407 (26 February 2019) I have been working in legal costs now for over 10 years. In that time I have, as many of you will appreciate, seen numerous changes to the Law and procedure that we all, as professionals, are obliged to follow.…
Terri Shepherd-Taylor East Sussex Fire And Rescue Service v Austin [2019] EWHC 1455 (QB) This action arose from a firework explosion which happened on a farm on 3rd December 2006. Due to a large fire, the assistance of the emergency services were required. During the course of the emergency response, a large cache of…
Lindsay Woolford Zurich Insurance Plc –v- Romaine [2019] EWCA Civ 851 A recent Court of Appeal decision has found that a Judge was wrong to ignore the tactics of “unscrupulous” Claimants and Lawyers, and has granted an Insurer permission to bring Committal Proceedings against a Claimant who had allegedly made knowingly false statements of…
Jack Andrew AssetCo PLC -v- Grant Thornton UK LLP [2019] EWHC 592 (Comm) While already a case of interest for any cost practitioner, given the requirement for electronic billing was dispensed with by the High Court. A further investigation of the case reveals perhaps a more interesting aspect concerning Part 36, and what happens…
Rebecca Mogford Solicitors Regulation Authority v Good Claimants have come under scrutiny in recent times regarding fundamental dishonesty and there has been an increase in questioning the honesty of Claimants by Defendants. However, what we haven’t seen too much of is a questioning of Solicitors’ honesty and intentions. This is not surprising given the…
Jack Holland Cook v Malcolm Nicholls Limited In the recent case of Cook v Malcolm Nicholls Limited the point was taken by the Defendant that Court fees were not payable by the Defendant but rather unrecoverable inter-partes due to the failings of the Claimant. The Defendant attempted to argue the £10,000.00 Court fee was…