The free guide to costs, funding and the Jackson reforms
Costs
“Sums in issue” does not just mean damages awarded in proportionality test
The ‘sums in issue’ when considering the proportionality of costs is a wider concept than the sum awarded or agreed, the Senior Costs Judge has said. Master Gordon-Saker was ruling in the latest series of costs cases to arise out of the Mirror Newspapers hacking litigation.
High Court gives whiplash contempt proceedings green light
A High Court judge has allowed a bus company’s application for committal proceedings to go ahead against two former claimants who said they had serious whiplash injuries from a minor traffic collision, when CCTV showed otherwise.
Appeal judges reject “sliding scale” approach to quantum of security for costs
The Court of Appeal has rejected the use of a “sliding scale” to reduce the amount of security for costs in cases where there is a risk that court orders will not be enforced. It said the starting point in such a situation was that security should be “for the entirety of the costs”.
Judge orders indemnity costs against NHS trust for outrageous “bimbling”
The High Court has hammered both sides in a medical negligence case involving a mentally ill woman for outrageous “bimbling”. His Honour Judge Gore QC, sitting as a High Court judge, said the word – which means to move at a leisurely pace – was used by one of his daughters.
Circuit judge was wrong to apply QOCS to ‘mixed’ claim automatically, High Court rules
A circuit judge was wrong to order that qualified one-way costs shifting automatically applied to a claim about misuse of data because it also included a personal injury element, the High Court has ruled. Mrs Justice Whipple said the court has complete discretion as to what action to take.
CA: Accepting part 36 offer late does not displace fixed-costs regime
A claimant in a fixed-costs case whose part 36 offer is accepted late is restricted to those fixed costs, the Court of Appeal has ruled. The decision, which follows several conflicting lower court rulings, will “affect the costs outcome in many other cases”, Lord Justice Coulson acknowledged.
Call for Tomlin order review after major QOCS ruling
The rules on qualified one-way costs shifting do not prevent a successful defendant in a multi-defendant claim recovering costs from the damages awarded against a different defendant, the Court of Appeal has ruled. However, it held that this right could not be enforced where the damages were payable under a Tomlin order.
High Court judge slashes costs budgets in bus station competition law claim
A High Court judge has slashed the costs budgets of two parties in a competition law tussle over a bus station in Wales, while finding that of the party bringing the claim too low to use as a comparison. He also ruled that, in a multi-party case, each budget was to be looked at on its own, rather than combined to the total of what the other side might have to pay.
Claimant costs start to fall as LASPO finally starts to bite, says NHS Resolution
Claimant legal costs paid the NHS fell by £32m last year as the LASPO reforms finally start to show their impact, and formal litigation has been reduced to the lowest recorded level, NHS Resolution said today. But its annual report said last year’s revision to the discount rate meant the cost of claims rose sharply.
High Court orders indemnity costs against claimant that discontinued on eve of hearing
Russian state airline Aeroflot has been ordered to pay indemnity costs for the entire eight years of a fraud claim that it dropped on the eve of opening submissions. Mrs Justice Rose said a claimant who makes serious allegations of fraud and then abandons them should normally expect an order for indemnity costs.
Blog
QOCS and multiple defendants – why both sides need to be wary
The recent case of Cartwright v Venduct Engineering Limited [2018] EWCA Civ 1654 represents a very interesting development in the interpretation of rule 44.14. The question before the Court of Appeal was this: where, in a matter to which QOCS applies, a claimant has brought an action against multiple defendants, is a successful defendant entitled to enforce a costs award in its favour against damages recovered by the claimant from an unsuccessful defendant?
August 16th, 2018
Associate News
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