Legal Costs

The dispute as to whether noise induced hearing loss (NIHL) claims are “disease” claims for the purposes of the fixed success fee regime stems from the complete failure to define “disease” in the Civil Procedure Rules. What is less obvious is whether this was a careless oversight or a deliberate decision. Males J when faced […]

The Judicial Appointments Commission is advertising for three Costs Judges (two immediate, one future vacancy). So far as I can work out, in light of the retirements of Master Hurst, Master Campbell and, presumably, another Master in the not too distant future, this will not represent an increase in overall numbers. On the other hand,

The issue of what amounts to a “disease” for the purposes of the old fixed success fee regime rumbles on. Judgment has now been given by Mr Justice Phillips in Dalton v British Telecommunications plc ruling that noise induced hearing loss (NIHL) claims are “disease” claims for the purposes of the rules. This is unlikely

The recent costs management case of CIP Properties (AIPT) Ltd v Galliford Try Infrastructure Ltd & Ors (Costs No. 2) [2015] EWHC 481 (TCC) has been widely reported as an example of the court “slashing” the claimant’s excessive costs budget. By way of example, the claimant’s estimate sought a budget of £324,880 for drafting witness

In the recent case of CIP Properties (AIPT) Ltd v Galliford Try Infrastructure Ltd & Ors (Costs No. 2) [2015] EWHC 481 (TCC), Coulson J was dismissive of the suggestion a defendant might try to submit a knowingly low costs budget: “In his written submissions on behalf of the claimant, one of the points made

Another member of the judiciary has come out in support of the importance of Costs Lawyers in the costs budgeting process. Master David Cook, speaking at a seminar at 7 Bedford Row chambers, was quoted as saying: “costs lawyers should be discouraged from attending budgeting hearings as they do not have the knowledge of the

Press release from well known personal injury solicitors commenting on holiday illness claim, where solicitors were acting for 276 clients, quoting their head of travel law: “It is almost beyond belief that [the Defendant] has continued to deny liability for this terrible outbreak”. Success fee claimed for this clearly clear-cut claim: 100%. You couldn’t make

The move from costs estimates to costs budgets has left rather a mess in the rules due to the absence of transitional provisions. Nevertheless, under the old rules, and to the extent to which the old costs estimate rules continue to apply, the response of receiving parties to objections concerning inaccurate estimates is invariably, in

The media has a terrible habit of attributing expert status to those who clearly have no right to be called anything of the sort. Fox News famously interviewed a “terrorism expert” who claimed “In Britain, it’s not just no-go zones, there are actual cities like Birmingham that are totally Muslim where non-Muslims just simply don’t

I recently received an offer as follows: “We confirm that we can agree to accept the sum of £18,800.00 in settlement of our costs, this offer is made subject to S1 Part 36 CPR, applies to the whole of this matter and is open for acceptance for 7 days. If we do not hear from