The free guide to costs, funding and the Jackson reforms
Jackson reforms
Partial relief from sanction for claimant who submitted partial budget
A claimant who submitted a budget that did not include figures for trial preparation or trial has won relief from a decision that limited the entire budget to court fees only – but only for those parts of the budget that were completed.
Top costs QC: Unacceptable that proportionality test is still not clear
It is “unacceptable” that there is still no guidance on the proportionality test more than five years after it came into force, a leading costs silk has argued. Nick Bacon QC was speaking following the latest application of the test, which saw a circuit judge reduce assessed costs of £116,000 to £75,000.
QOCS applied to whole case after defendant’s unsuccessful PI counterclaim
An unsuccessful defendant in a road traffic claim for financial losses who made an unsuccessful counterclaim for personal injury was entitled to the protection of qualified one-way costs shifting for the whole case, a circuit judge has ruled.
“Little enthusiasm” among solicitors and judges for electronic bill
Many solicitors and judges were not ready for the electronic bill of costs when it became compulsory in April and few are keen on it now, according to a survey by the Association of Costs Lawyers. There are, however, small signs that solicitors are getting better at budgeting.
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.
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.
Senior Costs Judge flags concern over PI solicitors’ standard 100% success fee
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.
DBAs and referral fees in spotlight as Ministry of Justice begins LASPO review
The reforms contained in part 2 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 are generally working well, the Ministry of Justice said today in a preliminary assessment that marks the start of the post-implementation review of the provisions.
Jackson calls for costs budgeting to curb high costs of arbitration
Sir Rupert Jackson, only weeks into his new role as an arbitrator, has called for costs budgeting to tackle the “high level of costs” in arbitration, at least for lower-value claims, in the wake of survey findings that two-thirds of respondents described the high level of costs as “the worst feature of international arbitration”.
Judge was wrong not to order fundamental dishonesty hearing, says High Court
A circuit judge wrongly exercised his discretion in refusing to order a hearing on whether a claim was fundamentally dishonest, the High Court has ruled. Mrs Justice Yip, exercising the discretion afresh, ruled that it was “reasonable” to give the defendant insurer, Alpha, the chance to put its case.
Blog
An analogue decision? Google defeats attempt at consumer ‘class action’
In an eagerly awaited judgment, the High Court handed down its ruling in Richard Lloyd v Google LLC on 8 October. It seems clear that there is a degree of reluctance to permit group litigation which will not materially benefit consumers. That being said, it is hard to ignore the increased possibilities of group litigation in the context of corporate data breaches, particularly following the implementation of GDPR earlier this year.
October 18th, 2018
Associate News
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