The Guideline Hourly Rates changed on 1st January 2026. These are set out below. The 2025 and 2024 rates can be found underneath. Guideline hourly rates 2026 (with previous year’s rates in brackets) Grade Fee Earner London 1 London 2…
This section looks at decisions in relation to relief from sanctions and the general principles of CPR 3.9. Often there are links to the decisions themselves, together with links to posts on this blog. CASES IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER May 2026…
The Courts and Tribunals Judiciary have issued a document “Remote Participation – Judicial Principles”. It ” sets out the overarching judicial principles for remote participation and provides a common set of principles for determining whether remote participation is appropriate.” These…
On the 29th May HMCTS published updated guidance on how to complete case administration tasks in MyHMCTS. The changes the updates made are not wholly clear, here are what appears to be the main changes. What HMCTS says changed…
The outcome of a fatal accident claim often hinges on the strength of the schedule and the supporting evidence. This webinar provides practical guidance on building a robust, credible schedule of loss, supported by evidence, that accurately reflects the full…
This is a judgment that bristles with procedural issues. The claimants had issued in the wrong court, using the wrong procedure. The defendant made applications which (initially) were in the wrong form. The judge had to consider whether the actions…
Experts faced with evidence that appears to contradict their earlier views often face a dilemma. In particular they need to consider whether their earlier conclusions remain valid. We have an example here where the judge was critical of the expert’s…
FUNDAMENTAL DISHONESTY ESTABLISHED AT TRIAL: IT WAS NOT A SUBSTANTIAL INJUSTICE TO DISMISS THE CLAIM
The judge in this case had little difficulty in finding the claimant fundamentally dishonest. Further, although the claimant had suffered some injuries, dismissing the claim was did not give rise to “substantial injustice”. “In my judgment the Claimant’s dishonesty was…
Here we look at part of a judgment that dealt with expert evidence. The Master was clear that a party could not rely on expert evidence without permission. The use of such evidence is “unusual” in an interlocutory application. Further…
Here we look at what was, essentially, an attempt to appeal a trial judge’s findings of fact. It did not fare well. The judge found that the trial judge was entitled to reach the conclusions he did. The absence of…
This is another case that litigators and litigants need to read. An action against an estate led to the net value of the estate being “almost entirely” consumed by costs. During the course of the litigation the (unsuccessful) claimant already…
This post arises from the observations of the judge in a case we looked at last week. In essence it is not enough to simply issue a notice of appeal or an application notice. The rules require that you serve…
Here we look at an argument that a petition should be struck out because the respondents had made a reasonable offer to resolve the issues between the parties. The Court of Appeal observed that the “reasonable offer” did not include…
Here we are looking at a short, but important, point in relation to seeking an expedited trial. The parties agreed the need for a speedy trial and agreed the dates. However it turns out that neither of the leading counsel…
Here we look at the remaining elements of costs budgeting in a case that we have looked at before. The reductions this time were not as severe as previously. It remains the case, however, that just over £1 million was…
There have been several series on “advocacy – the judge’s view” on this blog. Here we look at the fourth post in the first series. Again we have the problem that the original links no longer work. However this summary…
Expert evidence plays a critical and often decisive role in clinical negligence litigation, and the ability to assess such evidence is a core skill for litigators. This webinar examines the legal framework and case law governing the credibility and admissibility…
Occasionally there is a case that sends out clear lessons to litigator and litigants alike. We have such a case here. I would recommend it for universal reading. The judge observed that the parties had managed to spend over half…
There is clear power in the rules to allow the court to transfer actions issued using Part 8 to Part 7. However there is no express rule allowing transfer the other way. The issue was considered in this case. There…
We have seen many cases in which the courts have considered whether indemnity costs should be ordered. Here we have a case where the judge was clear in her view that the claimant’s conduct of the litigation was such that…
This appeal has been much discussed in the specialist press. A solicitor’s client argued that the terms of a retainer rendered in a Contentious Business Agreement. This would have given her greater scope to dispute the bills. The Court of…
I am grateful to Craig Leigh, for sending me a copy of this judgment in relation to an appeal about allocation in a housing disrepair case. It deals with important principles relating to the allocation of housing disrepair cases. The…
Early next year there will be a new division of the High Court – the Business and Property Division. This was announced yesterday, with all Business and Property Courts to become part of the new Business and Property Division. We…
This is a case where a decision as to costs and interests was overturned on appeal. The Circuit Judge found that the claimant landlord had no entitlement to claim costs under the terms of the lease. Further the claim for…
Much of the discussion in relation to clinical negligence cases is based on expert evidence and the standard of care (and rightly so). However it is important that practitioners do not overlook the vital role played by witness evidence. Those…
For many years the courts have endeavoured to provide guidance for the appropriate approach to damages when a “carer” is killed. The principles relating to lost of an “income earner” are generally well established. Over the past few decades there…
Checklists are always a feature of discussions I have with publishers and legal professionals. I have prepared have created a whole series of checklists for lawyers (9 in total) and a series for experts (6), plus a “Judicial Red Flags”…
This case, where judgment was given today, is essential reading for anyone litigating using CE-File. It is also essential to anyone involved in group litigation. This is a case where 5,000 claimants were refused relief from sanctions. That initial difficulty…
This case has two important practical points. Firstly (contrary to the case put forward by the claimant) a failure to respond to a Notice to Admit facts does not give rise to an “implied admission” by the recipient of the…
We are looking at an (unsuccessful) application for relief from sanctions in a family case. A husband sought permission to appeal some 10 1/2 months out of time. What is particularly interesting here are the judge accepted that some delay…
I am grateful to Jamie Carpenter KC for drawing my attention to this judgment given this afternoon. It relates to an interesting dispute between law firms. The claimant had entered into a CFA with the defendant. The defendant argued that…
Here we look at how a simple mistake in the naming of a file led to a potentially disastrous problem when it led to an appeal being out of time. The wrong documents were sent to the court when an…
This blog has covered issues relating to time estimates many times. I cannot recall, however, a case where there has been an appeal over a judicial determination of a time estimate for a trial. We have such a case here. …
Some areas of litigation rely heavily on expert evidence. Clinical negligence is often one of those areas. It is always interesting to read judicial views when a matter reaches trial. Here was have a judgment where the judge considered aspects…
Here we look at a recent decision that has major practical implications for anyone making an application, or anyone disgruntled with a court decision. The applicant asked, specifically, for an application to be considered on paper. The matter was considered…
Fatal accident claims are among the most complex and high-stakes cases a lawyer can handle. They are not simply personal injury claims in which the injured person has died. Fatal accident litigation is governed by a distinct legal framework, involves…
There is no shortage of posts on this blog where judges have been critical of expert witnesses (and sometimes those who instruct them). This webinar examines how courts assess and evaluate expert evidence in personal injury litigation, with a particular…
Here we continue the theme of today in looking at applications to amend. In this case the application was unsuccessful because it sought to raise issues that may be subject to a limitation defence. The judge rejected the argument that…
The theme for today may well be unsuccessful applications to amend pleadings. Here we have what may be regarded as an “extreme” case. The claimant issued proceedings relying on medical evidence that actually contradicted the pleaded case. This was pointed…
If we have a theme for today it relates to applications to amend pleadings. This is, needless to say, a regular topic on this site. The issues and problems that litigants faced 11 years ago still occur in cases we…
Here we have a case where both parties made Part 36 offers. The court held that the offers were ineffective. One because the offeror had not beaten their offer on a true “like-for-like” comparison. The other offer was held not…
Some new provisions relating to the Damages Claim Portal came into effect yesterday, introduced in Practice Direction 51ZB (the Damages Claims Pilot) . Essentially these allow “other remedy claims” to be issued alongside damages claims. It also extends the portal…
The Court of Appeal considered some interesting issues in this case. Firstly in relation to the direct applicability of EC directives; secondly in relation to whether a particular body was an emanation of the state. It is not clear how…
We are continuing our review of personal injury cases with another slipping case where the claim failed (don’t worry the imbalance will be addressed in due course). However the reason in this case was simply because the matter that caused…
Today we will, primarily, be looking at personal injury and clinical negligence issues. Here we look at a case where the claim failed even though the judge found there was a breach of duty. The difficulty for the claimant was…
Here we look at a case where the Master struck out the claimants’ pleaded case alleging unlawful means conspiracy, breach of contract and a claim in negligence. The Master held that that the pleadings were non-compliant and did not plead…
Here we have another case of a failure to serve a claim form properly. This time a local authority failed to serve interested parties to an appeal because, rather than sending the claim forms to them personally, they were sent…
Earlier posts have written on the issue of how little guidance there is for those attending courts (civil courts in particular) to give evidence. An earlier post provided useful links. Here we look at the guidance given in one of…
There must be many anxious litigators who have read the words of CPR 6.15 and happily assumed that their case is saved. On the face of it this rule gives the court a wide power to authorise service by another…
This will not be the only case about (mis) service of the claim form this week, however it may be the largest. We have the “traditional” pattern of a claimant leaving service until the very last day and then serving…
There are some interesting observations in the short judgment on costs in this case. There was too much correspondence, “witness statements” were in reality skeleton arguments, with the contents then repeated in skeleton arguments. Furthermore a “good” Grade C is…
In Serra -v- Harvey [2024], wasted costs were ordered on an indemnity basis against the claimant’s solicitors because the lateness and condition of the trial bundles. The bundles were described as “haphazard”. This is just one of numerous posts on…
You must be logged in to post a comment.