Entries by Toby Moreton

Which Costs Regime Should Apply Following Withdrawal Of Judicial Review In Criminal Proceedings?

“Beguiling though Mr Buttler’s submissions were, and skilfully made, I reject them. With respect to him, much of his argument was in truth an attempt to challenge the correctness and authority of the Murphy principle. This flew in the face of the decision of the Divisional Court in Bahbahani where arguments similar to some of Mr Buttler’s were considered and rejected and where, in any event, the application of the Murphy principle was affirmed. In my view, the principle is well established.”

Court Declines To Bifurcate Solicitors Act Assessment

“As Mr Marven pointed out, there is nothing currently to transfer to the Chancery Division other than an order for detailed assessment of the profit costs and success fees. Such a transfer would be rather puzzling, I imagine. Mr Mallalieu’s seventh reason elegantly describes the artificiality of delineating the issues between the commission and assessment issues and suggests that the Chancery Division should send back any elements that should be addressed here. This is a stark description of the complete lack of any particularisation of any of the issues as things stand. The seventh reason suggests that the pleading out of the commission issue will tease out the delineation so that assessment issues will become plain. But why they would be raised in the commission issue is not apparent if they can clearly be identified as assessment issues. The issues that might be identified, in my view, are more likely to be those which may bear on both the commission and assessment strands.”

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Solicitors Bound By Informal Resolution Brokered By Legal Ombudsman

“The terms of that contract were clear and complete. They were based on the offer from the Claimant communicated to the Defendant in Ms Bartlam’s letter of 12 December 2019, as expressly accepted by the Defendant in Mrs Chikwendu’s letter of 14 February 2020 and relayed to the Claimant by Ms Bartlam. Ms Bartlam’s letters of 18 February 2020 set out the procedure by which the agreement would be implemented, which both parties, by their actions, plainly accepted. Accordingly, under the terms of the contract the Defendant was to render a “full and final bill of costs” for £10,000 plus specified disbursements and VAT, as the Defendant did on about 21 February 2020, and the Claimant was to pay it within two weeks, which the Claimant did.”

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No Fishing | Disclosure And Part 18 Applications In Solicitors Act Assessments

“The defendant has disclosed the solicitors’ file in the usual way in support of the bill delivered to the client. The call recordings made no appearance in the original points of dispute and their supposed importance has only surfaced quite recently and without any indication of why the claimant says those call recordings might assist. Why they should be exhumed, should they exist, and be listened to by the solicitors or their costs lawyers in such circumstances, given the expense that would incur, is not readily apparent

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The Consequences Of An Inadequate Costs Estimate And A Flawed Risk Assessment | Solicitors Act Assessment

“In circumstances where the client was given a hopelessly inaccurate estimate, relied on the estimate by entering into a conditional fee agreement, lost the opportunity of doing something different, was not given proper costs information, was billed a sum several times the amount of the estimate, and where the solicitor failed properly to explain the difference between the estimate and the costs incurred, the amount that the client should reasonably be expected to pay must be a figure close to the estimate upon which she relied. The claim settled before issue and following mediation. The estimate given for that outcome was £5,000 to £20,000 plus “additional costs for mediation”. Taking the top end of that bracket and adding £20,000 for mediation would give £40,000. That is just under half of the figure which Ms Slade referred to as the most she had ever charged for a case which went to trial. It is also not far off the amount that I would expect to have seen estimated and incurred. £40,000 seems to me to be the reasonable sum which the Claimant should be expected to pay.”

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Unenforceable CFA: Court of Appeal Rejects Severance And Quantum Meruit Arguments As Between Solicitor And Client

“It would be contrary to the public policy that forbids partial or total enforcement of the CFA and severance to permit the solicitors to recover on a quantum meruit basis…. Not only is this clear as a matter of principle based on the scope of the public policy prohibition, it would also be contrary to authority. In Awwad the solicitors contended that they should recover fees on the basis of a quantum meruit assessment in respect of services actually rendered: see 574C. That argument was rejected by Schiemann LJ (with whom both Lord Bingham and May LJ expressly agreed on this point) at 596C-E.”

Failure To Mediate And Validity Of Part 36 Offers In Probate Claims

I have concluded that the claimant’s conduct was not such as to warrant a deduction from his costs. In reaching that conclusion I have in mind in particular (a) the fact that the claimant made most of the running in relation to settlement (b) the third defendant’s behaviour in her conduct of the claim and (c) the strong merits of the claim which either were known or should have been known to the third defendant and (d) the late stage at which the third defendant expressed a willingness to engage in ADR. Although the claimant did not explain his position in April and May 2023 it would not have been unreasonable to have concluded that the additional cost of mediation was not warranted. I do not consider that on the facts of this case it can be said that silence on the part of the claimant amounted to a refusal to undertake mediation (or some other form of ADR).

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Letters Of Claim, Schedules Of Loss, Experts’ Fees And Hourly Rates | A Standard, Standard Basis Assessment

In the judgment of HD v Northern Devon Healthcare NHS Trust [2023] EWHC 2118 (SCCO), Costs Judge James decided several preliminaty issues concerning the reasonableness and proportionality of Fortitude Law’s costs in representing claimants in several clinical negligence cases. The NHS Trust challenged the extensive and duplicative nature of the Letters of Claim and the over-pleading of the Schedules of Loss. They also criticised the medical experts’ fees, highlighting the extensive use of precedents and questioning the correlation between the fees claimed and the work undertaken. The judge, after thorough examination, found several aspects of Fortitude Law’s costs to be disproportionate. The judgment underscored the importance of maintaining proportionality in legal costs, especially in cases settled pre-issue. It also emphasises the need for legal practitioners to ensure that costs correlate reasonably with the work produced, particularly when using precedents.