David Sawtell summarises recent costs judgments ‘The summary nature of costs budgeting means that the court may either overestimate or underestimate the future expenditure of costs that will reasonably and proportionately be required.’ Costs budgeting is now a familiar part of the litigation landscape. Costs management hearings are supposed to be carried out quickly and …
Continue reading "Costs: Budget cuts"
This post is only available to members.
Paul Jones outlines a case where the claimants’ fees were challenged due to a disagreement over complexity and proportionality ‘The way in which the new proportionality regime is being applied is causing concern to many practitioners and this is a clear case in point.’Two of the recurring themes of the Jackson reforms are proportionality and …
Continue reading "Costs: Clinical negligence costs: let battle commence"
This post is only available to members.
In the second part of his article Paul Jones explains the new code system of the new bill of costs pilot scheme ‘The ultimate end-game for this initiative is to reform not just the format of the bill of costs but the way it is actually constructed and for this we have to turn to …
Continue reading "Costs: Of budgets and bills – Part 2"
This post is only available to members.
Wills & Trusts Law Reports | October 2015 # 153CT was born in 1929. He has a wife and two children: a son and a daughter (EY).
On 19 May 2013, CT suffered a stroke, which resulted in left hemiplegia and impaired vision. He was admitted to hospital where he was diagnosed as having vascular dementia.His stroke precipitated a rift within his family, with CT and his daughter aligned on one side and his wife and son on the other.
On 18 June 2013, CT executed a lasting power of attorney (LPA) for property and affairs appointing EY as his attorney and another person as a replacement attorney and named nobody to be given notice...
Paul Jones reports on the 81st update to Civil Procedure Rules and, in the first part of this article, the details of the new Precedent Q ‘At its simplest level, this amendment adds an additional requirement for commencing detailed assessment in cases where costs management orders have been made.’ It seems a lifetime since the …
Continue reading "Costs: Of budgets and bills – Part 1"
This post is only available to members.
Paul Jones discusses the application of qualified one-way costs shifting in a case concerning pre-commencement funding arrangements ‘Given that the new rules prohibited the claimant from being able to recover her additional liabilities in these proceedings, she should also get the benefit of QOCS and not be liable for the defendant’s costs of those proceedings.’ …
Continue reading "Costs: QOCS"
This post is only available to members.
Sarah Breckenridge analyses the current state of costs management ‘Costs management aims to control and therefore reduce the costs of litigation. But the act of producing, negotiating and allowing judicial scrutiny of budgets can itself be an expensive and time-consuming process.’In May 2015 at the annual Harbour Lecture, Jackson LJ ‘confronted’ costs management with a …
Continue reading "Costs: Free time"
This post is only available to members.
Paul Jones considers the arguments concerning the recoverability of success fees using retrospective agreements ‘The recoverability of success fees made conditional fee agreements exponentially more attractive to claimants and their solicitors but, as a result of their growth, they became more and more objectionable to defendants.’Conditional fee agreements (CFAs) may very well go down in …
Continue reading "Costs: Back to the future with CFAs"
This post is only available to members.
Chrissie Cuming Walters explores the interrelationship between costs allowances and legal services orders ‘The difference between legal services orders and costs allowance orders is that the former is subject to the application of more stringent statutory principles while the latter remains open to wider judicial interpretation and discretion.’The terms ‘costs allowance order’ and ‘legal services …
Continue reading "Costs: A marriage of necessity?"
This post is only available to members.
Andrew Kelmanson provides a timely reminder of the law behind co-defendant costs orders ‘Claimants involved in multi-party litigation may apply to the courts to make discretionary costs orders in circumstances where a claimant succeeds against one or more defendants, but does not succeed against others.’ Alongside determining the liability of the parties to proceedings, courts …
Continue reading "Costs: Sharing the blame"
This post is only available to members.
