In March 2017, a new Pre-Action Protocol for Debt Claims was published by the Ministry of Justice and will come into effect on 1 October 2017. The purpose of pre-action protocols is to encourage the engagement of and communication between the parties, to allow information to be exchanged at an early stage and issues identified. By the parties…
JC and A Solicitors Limited v Iqbal and others [2017] EWCA Civ 355 A case which confirms what happens to Stage 1 Protocol payments when a matter is not pursued into Stage 2. Until this case, it was arguable that a loophole existed under the old April 2010 RTA Pre-Action Protocol. The case was in…
The County Court at Liverpool has recently refused permission to an insurer to recover costs on an indemnity basis where a GP Expert has agreed to cover the insurer’s costs. If we are to park the indemnity basis point in this matter for a moment, the circumstances of the GP Expert’s involvement in this matter…
Robert Jeffreys v The Commissioner of the Police of the Metropolis Qualified One-way Cost Shifting (QOCS) was one of the foundations of the Jackson reforms in that it sought to eradicate the need for Claimant’s to obtain ‘expensive’ ATE policies, which would therefore reduce the amount of litigation costs that the Defendant was exposed…
Findcharm Ltd v Churchill Group Ltd [2017] EWHC 1108 (TCC) “Some parties seem to treat cost budgeting as a form of game, in which they can seek to exploit the cost budgeting rules in the hope of obtaining a tactical advantage over the other side” Summary of the Case The Judgement on this case was…
The year 2013 was tough for the personal injury sector. A number of changes took place in so far as costs were concerned: – Further fixed costs were implemented. The 65th update amended CPR 45 and introduced Pre-Action Protocols for Low Value RTA and EL/PL claims for claims up to a value of £25,000.00. – …
In his 2016 Autumn Statement on 23 November 2016, Chancellor Philip Hammond announced a further 2% increase to Insurance Premium Tax (IPT) for policies incepted after 1 June 2017. Consequently, the new standard IPT rate will be 12% on premiums received on or after 1 June 2017 which relate to risks for which the period…
A case which clarifies the ‘special circumstance’ required for a Judge to go beyond the usual cost consequence of a solicitor/client detailed assessment Fee paying clients have the statutory right to request the detailed assessment of their solicitor’s costs once they have been served with a bill. Under Section 70(9) of the Solicitors Act 1974,…
Recent Case Law supports that all reasonable offers need to be accepted to avoid costs sanctions There has recently been a review of the cases that refer to mediation. It is apparent that more and more parties failing to participate in ADR mediation now face costs sanctions. The Courts have highlighted the advantages of mediation…
The new fixed costs regime was brought in over 3 years ago, the new regime captured claims with values up to £25,000.00 and claims which had been litigated; such claims would not have been subject to the ‘old’ predictive costs II ROAD TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS – FIXED RECOVERABLE COSTS which runs from CPR 45.9 to CPR…