Costs

The “wasteful and obstructive stance” taken by the president of Ukraine in refusing to agree to a preliminary hearing on meaning in a libel case against the BBC has been penalised in costs.

A claimant whose solicitors failed to amend the gross settlement box in the Ministry of Justice portal while negotiating with the defendant insurer was stuck with the figure, a circuit judge has ruled.

The work done by Bott & Co in bringing uncontested flight delay claims does not amount to litigation services and so the law firm cannot claim an equitable lien over the damages for its costs.

The intervention of Lord Hain in the dispute between Sir Philip Green and the Daily Telegraph has had a mixed impact on the costs of the case, which was discontinued last week.

Both claimant and defendant solicitors expressed themselves dissatisfied with the Ministry of Justice’s conclusion that the part 2 LASPO reforms have largely achieved their goals.

Part 2 of LASPO has “on balance” succeeded in the government’s aims of reducing the cost of litigation, the Ministry of Justice declared today – but DBA reform is on the agenda.

A circuit judge was wrong not to make an unless order against a claimant who failed to pay the costs of a preliminary hearing, the High Court has ruled.

Conduct issues that could have been dealt with at trial cannot be revisited during detailed assessment, the author of Friston on Costs, sitting in the Senior Courts Costs Office, has ruled.

The judge in charge of the media list has reduced the hourly rate recoverable by the lawyers for Sir Philip Green in his case against the Daily Telegraph. He capped the top partner rate at £550 an hour.

The High Court has criticised the “deeply alarming” level of costs which the trustee of the British Airways pension scheme expects to spend in a Supreme Court appeal.