ATE/CFA

The government is to abolish the recoverability of success fees in defamation cases – but retain it for after-the-event insurance premiums, it announced yesterday.

The High Court yesterday dismissed the group litigation brought on behalf of more than 40,000 Kenyan claimants, after six years of work done by lawyers operating on a ‘no win, no fee’ basis.

The High Court has struck out a law firm’s amended particulars of claim for an indemnity from a QC if the firm was successfully sued by claimants who took part in failed group litigation. Failure to produce new particulars would inevitably lead to the part 20 claim failing.

Lawyers and litigation funders would “by a considerable margin” be the main beneficiaries of any award in a representative action against Google over misuse of private data, the High Court has ruled in blocking the case going forward.

The former chief executive of DAS UK was convicted of a 14-year-long fraud in a private prosecution brought by the company after it overturned a court decision to stay the case, it has emerged.

An increasing number of solicitors do not accept a contractual obligation to pay counsel’s unrecovered fees in personal injury and medical negligence cases, the Bar Council has complained. It also said QOCS was leading to more inappropriate claims of fundamental dishonesty.

The Court of Appeal is to rule on the legality of what has become the industry model for handling low-value personal injury claims, with firms charging clients a 100% success fee as standard. It was confirmed yesterday that the court has given permission for a second appeal in Herbert v HH Law.

The Senior Costs Judge has called on the Law Society to remind personal injury solicitors of their obligation to undertake individual risk assessments in low-value cases and not just apply a blanket 100% success fee. He also called for a broad extension of qualified one-way costs shifting.