Tip of the month
June 27, 2019
Disbursements: is prior authority required to incur expenditure? Beware instructing interpreters and translators, it is the Courts responsibility to arrange interpreters at Court, not all documents need to be translated. Ensure that letters of instruction to experts make clear the LAA codified rates for experts and that the invoice includes a breakdown of work undertaken and is, when necessary, apportioned in accordance with the order instructing the expert.
Appellant’s sum slashed by two-thirds after being found to be “excessive”
June 27, 2019
A recent ruling in the High Court will be regarded as a new authority on proportionality rules after the judge found that the extent of consultation with Counsel and the number of hours spent by the appellant’s solicitor were “entirely disproportionate”. To read more please click here
“Unreasonable” switch of funding method results in £1m of missed costs
June 27, 2019
A London firm lost its appeal against the decision to disallow its success fees and ATE premium after the firm changed to conditional fee agreement from legal aid funding. The judge argued that the firm was “bound by” its Legal Aid contract and that its application for more funding was “improperly constituted and inadequately formulated”. To read more please click here
Tip of the month
May 29, 2019
Listing time for FAS purposes: only claim time from when the matter is listed, FAS start times must agree with the listed start time. The Advocate’s attendance note should support the FAS claim.
Court of Appeal Judge slashes solicitor’s trial costs
May 29, 2019
The judge cut the successful appellant’s costs from £71,000 claimed to £13,000 recovered making it clear that solicitors should not be paid for trial preparation that could have been dealt with by counsel.
To read more click here
Dishonest PI injury claim thrown out by the High Court
May 29, 2019
A personal injury claim has been thrown out by the High Court, before going to full quantum trial, after it was accepted that the litigant had presented an “egregiously untrue picture” of his condition.
To read more Click here
Tip of the month
April 30, 2019
Advocacy: Try and keep advocacy within house: it is the most cost effective area of LA family. You may as well capitalise as much as you can within the value of the certificate and can regard this as ‘added value’. Get bolt-ons authorised. Does the final hearing qualify as a final hearing? If Counsel is instructed part way through inform them of bundle payments already claimed.
Court rules that fixed fees can apply to claim settled for £42,000
April 30, 2019
Two recent judgments show examples of judges considering fixed recoverable costs where the P.I. claims had exited the pre-action protocol. Section IIIA of the Civil Procedure Rules 45 provides that claims which grow in value and leave the expected upper limit of £25,000 are still subject to fixed costs.
To read more click here
New guidance on expert costs
April 30, 2019
Following changes under GDPR anyone can make requests from organisations for access to personal data being held about them for free and on that basis the guidance has changed. From 25 May 2018 charges for Subject Access Requests e.g. medical records and police disclosure are likely to be declined, there are exceptions however.
Further changes have been made in relation to interpreters – from 1 April 2019, attendance and waiting at court can be claimed at the codified rate.
To read more click here
Tip of the month
March 29, 2019
Keep on eye on the costs limitation: Remember when monitoring costs to take account of Counsel’s fees, FAS, expert’s fees, disbursements, enhancement and costs drafting fees. Is all work within scope? Are all aspects and applications covered? Is the final hearing covered?