Sapna Garg reports on recent judicial views of success fees ‘The High Court roundly rejected HH Law’s arguments that in the post-LASPO regime, it was acceptable for the firm to adopt a business model where the maximum success fee is charged irrespective of the level of risk arising in the particular case.’ The dangers of …
Continue reading "Costs: The will to win"
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Although the route may be different, the amount of costs awarded may be similar under the Protocol or the court’s general discretion under CPR 44.3, as Paul Jones explains ‘There is no reason why a judge assessing costs could not assess a reasonable sum as a sum equivalent to fixed costs, but this is different …
Continue reading "Costs: All roads lead to Rome"
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Wills & Trusts Law Reports | Spring 2018 #171W and M were married in 1969 and divorced in 1974. During their marriage, they bought a leasehold property with the proceeds of their former matrimonial home and a mortgage loan for the balance. The benefit of the long lease of the property was conveyed to them as joint tenants. M moved out of the property in 1973 and began divorce proceedings. No steps were taken in the divorce to deal with the ownership of the house, which remained vested in them as joint tenants. After M left the property, W had treated it as his own, insuring, maintaining and improving it and, soon after the divorce,...
James Whitaker reflects on adverse costs orders ‘If the non-party not only funds, but also controls or stands to benefit from the proceedings, justice will ordinarily require that the non-party pays the successful party‘s costs if the funded party fails.‘ An adverse costs order is but one of the risks parties to litigation run. That …
Continue reading "Costs: Sea of adversity"
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A growth area in costs litigation is solicitors‘ clients challenging whether the success fee was reasonable. Paul Jones reports on two conflicting cases regarding disclosure ‘It was the claimants‘ contention that the costs deducted were potentially unreasonable and may be subject to reduction at a solicitor/client assessment.‘ The Law Society Gazette recently led with the …
Continue reading "Costs: Whose file is it anyway?"
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Elizabeth Wiggin and Andy McGregor report on the judgment in Sharp v Blank ‘Certain applications might, in themselves, not be significant developments, but may lead to work that can be characterised as significant. As such, the court should look at the totality of related developments.‘ In Sharp v Blank [2017] the court considered the defendants‘ …
Continue reading "Costs: Budgetary benefits"
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Paul Jones investigates a recent Court of Appeal decision which reaffirms that the cap on costs of provisional assessment continues to apply even when the receiving party has beaten their own offer ‘Capped costs were not the same as fixed costs: they were merely assessed costs capped at a certain level and, therefore, there was …
Continue reading "Costs: Provisional assessment – capped or fixed costs?"
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Wills & Trusts Law Reports | Autumn 2017 #169The first appellant was a legal practitioner and a partner of the second appellant, a law firm. The solicitor received instructions from Jeffrey Doddridge (who was 77 years old at the time) to prepare his will, by which the entirety of his estate was to pass to the respondent, Roger Calvert, whom Mr Doddridge treated as his son. Mr Doddridge made no provision for his daughter by his first marriage. She brought a claim under the Testator’s Family Maintenance Act 1912 (Tas) (the TFM Act), and was successful in obtaining a court order that provision be made out of the clients estate. The co...
Paul Jones looks at the effect of fundamental dishonesty on QOCS ‘A claimant who brings an unsuccessful personal injury claim will only lose their protection against adverse costs if they have passed beyond dishonesty into the murkier realms of “fundamentally dishonest”.’ The American lawyer Clarence Darrow (most famous for his role in the Scopes Monkey …
Continue reading "Costs: The limits of dishonesty"
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Gwendoline Davies and Claire Acklam make sense of the rules and recent case law on proportionality of costs ‘Even if costs are reasonable this does not mean that they will necessarily be proportionate. The court must identify which of the factors listed in CPR 44.3(5) are relevant to the case and relate them to a …
Continue reading "Costs: Keep it in proportion"
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