Paul Jones reports on the timing of conditional fee agreements and the application of QOCS ‘The defendant submitted that the claimant was seeking to change the wording of the transitional provision from “pre-commencement funding arrangement” to “unterminated pre-commencement funding arrangement” when there was no justification for the same.’ Transition between legislation is always troublesome. When …
Continue reading "Costs: A troublesome transition"
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Paul Jones reviews if a defendant can be reimbursed for payments which are now unnecessary after a change in the RTA protocol ‘The underlying objective of the RTA protocol was that solicitors would receive payment for the work done during each stage, independently of the final outcome of the matter.’During the Peloponnesian War between Athens …
Continue reading "Costs: The Four Hundred Club"
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Paul Jones outlines the consequences of improper and unreasonable conduct when serving a bill of costs ‘The Master had little difficulty in concluding that the claimant solicitors’ conduct of the detailed assessment proceedings had been both improper and unreasonable.’The signing of a certificate of accuracy in a bill of costs as required by CPR 47 …
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After the discount rate cut, Paul Jones predicts increased legal disputes over interest on legal costs ‘Interest on legal costs is calculated from the date of the order giving a party the right to costs, rather than the date when those costs were assessed, the so-called incipitur rule.’While the legal and insurance professions come to …
Continue reading "Costs: Interesting times"
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Paul Jones sets out the lack of consensus on proportionality since the end of ATE premiums and success fees ‘Regarding the exclusion of the ATE premium when considering proportionality, the master, again, drew a distinction between the pre-April 2013 rules, where the ATE would have been considered separately, and the new rules, where there was …
Continue reading "Costs: Out with the old"
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Paul Jones offers insight into the recent cases that deal with Part 36 offers and fixed costs ‘On the question of whether the costs should be standard or indemnity basis, the defendant’s position was that the court should only order costs on the indemnity basis as a form of punishment for inappropriate conduct that merited …
Continue reading "Costs: Last minute decisions"
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Maura McIntosh summarises a currency-sensitive judgment ‘It followed as a matter of logic, the judge said, that where the court made an order in sterling it ought to have power to compensate the receiving party for any exchange rate loss.’When assessing the costs to which a German claimant was entitled on having succeeded in its …
Continue reading "Costs: A fair exchange"
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Paul Jones analyses a recent case in which costs were incurred before and after the introduction of the current proportionality rules ‘In deciding whether the costs claimed are reasonable and (on a standard basis assessment) proportionate, the court will consider the amount of any additional liability separately from the base costs.’ If one could somehow …
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Wills & Trusts Law Reports | January/February 2017 #166John Raymond Winson and Mable Winson (Mr & Mrs Winson) made ‘mirror image’ wills with the first defendant, a solicitor employed by the second defendant, on 17 August 2010 by which, in simple terms (and subject to two minor specific legacies by Mrs Winson), they left their estate to each other but, if that gift failed, left pecuniary legacies to the same named individuals and charities with the net residue passing to the claimants in equal shares. In each will there was a survivorship clause in the following terms:
‘My estate is to be divided as if any person ...
Ieuan Jones explores a controversial decision implementing the proportionality test ‘Many see BNM as a bellwether that the new test will be applied in a way that could potentially severely diminish a party’s costs, even if it is decided the costs were reasonably incurred.’ Following the controversial costs decision in BNM v MGN Ltd [2016], …
Continue reading "Costs: Sense and susceptibility"
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