Uncertainty with application of Proportionality Test
July 1, 2018
In a recent case concerning the “second wave” of the Mirror Newspaper hacking litigation and the first claims coming through it from John Leslie and Chantelle Houghton, the chief Chancery master has raised uncertainty as to how to apply the proportionality test to the budgeted costs. To read more, please Click Here.
Claimant ordered to pay 18 months worth of extra costs is Successful on Appeal
July 1, 2018
In a recent case before the Court of Appeal, the court overturned a decision to punish a Claimant accused of dishonesty who had been made to pay extra costs. Previously, at First Instance, the High Court had ordered that the Claimant pay legal costs for the previous 18 months. The appeal was however allowed on the basis that the Judge’s exercise of discretion was “flawed”. To read more, please Click Here.
How to respond to a Proportionality Argument
July 1, 2018
A recent article published by the Law Gazette provides guidance on how to avoid a proportionality reduction. Firstly, one must take into account the law as the starting point and thereafter consider various steps to prepare a proportionality argument. To read more, please Click Here,
Costs Judge declines to depart from Budget
May 22, 2018
In a recent case before the court, Master Rowley found that “the budgeted part of the bill had not been dealt with by a conventional detailed assessment, and so it was not open to the defendant to assume the total claim was unreasonable”. Master Rowley therefore found no good reason to depart from the budget set previously by a costs management order, despite the case settling for much less than expected. To read more, please Click Here.
Payment on Account of Costs in Budgeted cases
May 22, 2018
In a recent case before the High Court, Miss Joanna Smith QC ruled that the principle that a payment on account of costs in budgeted cases should be 90% of the budgeted sum does not apply to incurred costs. To read more, please Click Here.
