The claim for costs must be in Form 5 specified in Section 2 of the respective Practice Directions of the Supreme Court and the JCPC. It must be filed within three months of the date on which the relevant costs order was made and must, at the same time, be served on the other parties. There is provision in the Supreme Court (PD 13 para 8) and JCPC (PD 8 para 6) to seek an extension or to file out of time, but time limits in the Supreme Court and JCPC are enforced more strictly than in the SCCO and (unlike in the SCCO) there is no onus on the Paying Party to take the issue.
Assessments of costs in the Supreme Court are conducted by the Costs Officers appointed by the President. One must be a Costs Judge; the second must be the Registrar of the Supreme Court. The Costs Officers normally sit together as a Court of two or three. The current panel of Costs Judges sitting in the Supreme Court is the Senior Costs Judge (Chief Taxing Master) Gordon-Saker, Master Leonard and Master James.
Various statutes give the SCCO jurisdiction to assess costs in litigation including…
Bills of costs in proceedings in the District Registries of the High Court and the County Court are frequently transferred to the SCCO either at the request of the parties or of the Court’s own initiative. This is likely to occur when a District Judge considers the size and complexity of the bill warrants such a transfer.
Appendix AD is a specimen order for costs against a claimant who is a legally aided party and also a specimen order for use by a Costs Judge or District Judge when determining the amount of costs payable by a legally aided party.
A “statement of resources” should set out the details of the financial resources and expectations of the maker of the statement and of his “partner” (the person with whom he or she lives as a couple). The resources of a partner are not treated as the legally aided party’s resources if the partner has a contrary interest in the proceedings.
When dealing with the request, the court has a discretion as to whether the costs of the request or application are payable by one party to another, the amount of those costs and (if relevant) when they are to be paid.
The Lord Chancellor or his representative may appear at any hearing at which a costs order may be made against him.
When the legally aided party files a statement of resources the court will fix a hearing date and give the relevant parties at least 14 days’ notice. If the application is made only against the Lord Chancellor, the court may fix a hearing date at the time of issue of the request.
If the legally aided party fails to file the statement of resources without good reason the court will determine his liability (and the full amount of costs if relevant) and need not hold an oral hearing for any such determination.