Category Archives: Blog

Expert witness ordered to pay £50k+ wasted costs

Robinson v Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust & Dr Chris Mercier is an important development for all practitioners who instruct experts and even more important for experts themselves! The case is reported by barrister Gordon Exall who includes a link to the judgment – https://www.civillitigationbrief.com/2021/11/02/expert-had-a-flagrant-disregard-for-his-duty-to-the-court-ordered-to-pay-50500-wasted-costs/ On the face of it, this was a straightforward…

Supreme Court – Ho v Adelekun – QOCS and Costs v Costs

6th October 2021 The Supreme Court has, today, handed down judgment in the important case of Ho v Adelekun [2021] UKSC 43. This concerns interpretation of the rules surrounding Qualified Once Way Costs Shifting (QOCS) and what funds can be taken into account in relation to enforcement of the defendant’s costs. The original claim was…

DBAs and Family work

There is a lot of talk about Damages Based Agreements, especially after the government shunted thousands of innocent whiplash victims into the small claims court. The recent case of Peter Otto is a reminder that these agreements remain unlawful in some cases. In this case a DBA was wrongfully used in family proceedings. Such proceedings…

More about deductions – and when is a bill a bill?

Last week saw the latest instalment in the ongoing saga concerning deduction from damages in successful cases, particularly routine RTA cases. This was the judgment in SGI Legal LLP v Karatysz [2021] EWHC 1608 (QB). The facts are familiar to anyone who has followed the story. A straightforward RTA claim settled for £1250. The solicitors…

DBAs – some brighter news

There is lots of talk about Damages Based Agreements (DBAs) especially as the right to recover legal costs in many RTA cases is removed after the end of May 2021. One option is for firms to act on the basis that they will charge a percentage of the damages recovered. Anyone who has ever followed…

Housing Conditions Cases – the costs rules

Most firms do not need us to tell them that the world of whiplash claims will change for all time at the end of May 2020. The new rules flow from the changes set out in the Civil Liability Act 2018. As far as costs are concerned the major changes concern the Small claims Track.…

QOCS and counterclaims

Qualified One Way Costs Shifting was introduced as part of the civil procedure reforms in 2013. It is known, not necessarily with affection, as QOCS. The idea came from the Jackson reforms. It was effectively a trade-off. Insurers said that they would prefer to waive any claim for costs in return for not having to…

Some good news about DBAs

The recent Court of Appeal judgment in Zuberi v Lexlaw Ltd [2021] EWCA Civ 16 has gone some way to clarifying the rules relating to Damages Based Agreements (DBAs). It is fair to say that there has been an extremely limited uptake of DBAs as a litigation funding option since the current rules were introduced…

Can lawyers be paid when acting for themselves?

The recent case of JMH v CFH and SAP revisits the issue of recovery of costs where a solicitor acts for themselves through their own firm. The question goes back as far as London Scottish Benefit Society v Chorley [1884] 13 QBD 872 in which solicitors acted for themselves. The Court of Appeal held that…

Belsner v Cam Legal Services – action needed

This High Court judgment from 16th October 2016 has wide reacting implications for solicitors acting for victims of straightforward road traffic accidents. Since 2013 Solicitors have no longer been able to claim success fees from the other side. These fees and other non-recoverable items have been charged on a solicitor/client basis and have been deducted…