Costs

Video and phone hearings are set to become a permanent feature of the Senior Courts Costs Office even after the coronavirus pandemic has passed, the Senior Costs Judge has said.

The doctrine of unilateral mistake cannot be used to set aside settlements in portal cases where the claimant solicitors erroneously included lower figures, two county court judges have ruled.

The capped-costs pilot has ended with just one case run through it and the model will not be taken forward, Litigation Futures can reveal. The similar insolvency express pilot has also been ditched.

The First-tier Tribunal has refused to grant HM Revenue & Customs a wasted costs order despite its opponents instructing their QC on the wrong issue.

The percentage of clinical claims against the NHS being resolved before issue has continued to climb to new levels, although claimant legal costs have also increased over the past year.

The Senior Costs Judge has ruled that the costs of budgeting and costs management do not include VAT. The Association of Costs Lawyers said the decision ensured costs lawyers were properly remunerated.

Insurers should look to “drive a wedge between claimant and solicitor” when dealing with late notified claims, which have spiked during lockdown, a counter-fraud specialist has argued.

Covid-19 has released the ’virtual claims management’ genie from the bottle and there will be no going back, a leading claimant firm has argued.