COST BITES 217: CLAIMANTS TO PAY THE DEFENDANTS’ COSTS OF THE BUDGETING HEARING: THE PROPOSED BUDGET WAS “ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE LINE”
We are returning to the judgment of Mr Justice Constable in GS Woodland Court GP 1 Ltd & Anor v RGCM Ltd & Ors [2025] EWHC 285 (TCC), looked in the previous post. Because of the nature of the budget that the…
COST BITES 216: THIS IS A CASE OF HIGH VALUE: HOWEVER THE CLAIMANTS’ COSTS ARE DISPROPORTIONAL AND THE HOURLY RATES ARE EXCESSIVE
This is the first of two posts looking at the costs budgeting judgment of Mr Justice Constable in GS Woodland Court GP 1 Ltd & Anor v RGCM Ltd & Ors [2025] EWHC 285 (TCC). The judge made observations in…
COST BITES 214: SHOULD THE COURT MAKE AN ORDER FOR COSTS AGAINST A CLAIMANT WHEN THE COSTS BUDGET HAS BEEN GREATLY REDUCED? THE ISSUES CONSIDERED
In Zavorotnii v Malinowski [2025] EWHC 260 (KB) HHJ Karen Walden-Smith considered the arguments as to whether a major reduction in a party’s costs budget should lead to an order for costs being made, rather than an order for costs…
THE COSTS JUDGE OVER YOUR SHOULDER: MAXIMISING COSTS RECOVERY ON AN INTER PARTIES RECOVER – THE LITIGATOR’S ROLE: WEBINAR 23rd JANUARY 2025
Detailed assessment usually takes place after attempts at settlement of costs have failed and there are some major differences between the parties. The webinar uses examples from reported cases to show where failures and omissions by the receiving party has…
THREE WEBINARS ON COSTS TO START OF THE CALENDAR (IF NOT THE FINANCIAL) YEAR
There are three webinars on costs this January of interest to most litigators. The first deals with the summary assessment of costs; the second the role of the litigator in detailed assessments and the third on the topic of deducting…
DELEGATION IN LITIGATION: A CASE TO POINT – AND A WEBINAR ON THE 9th DECEMBER 2024
It is often the function, if not the duty, of someone who writes about civil procedure to look at a decision and then extract the most uninteresting aspect of the case for wider publication. I am doing this in relation…
COST BITES 195: THE IMPORTANCE OF KEEPING TO COSTS BUDGETS: “GOOD REASONS” FOR DEPARTING AND PART 36 ISSUES
In A & V Building Solution Ltd v J & B Hopkins Ltd [2024] EWHC 2914 (TCC) Mr Roger Ter Haar KC considered the circumstances in which a successful party can go outside the scope of budgeted costs. “……
COST BITES 194: CLAIMANT WHO SUCCEEDED ON SOME, BUT NOT ALL, ISSUES AWARDED COSTS ON THE STANDARD BASIS
In FXS v The Mulberry Bush Organisation Ltd [2024] EWHC 2844 (KB) Margaret Obi, sitting as a High Court Judge, considered issues of costs where a claimant had not succeeded in establishing negligence at trial but was successful on other…
SENIOR MASTER COOK’S GUIDANCE ON COST MANAGEMENT HEARINGS: A PIECE BY PIECE GUIDE (2):DELEGATION
We are continuing with our detailed examination of the Kings Bench Masters Cost Management Hearings Guidance Note. This time we are looking at issues relating to delegation. Costs budgeting and Cost Judges encourage delegation. The problem for many practitioners is that…
SENIOR MASTER COOK’S GUIDANCE ON COST MANAGEMENT HEARINGS: A PIECE BY PIECE GUIDE (1): THE GENERAL APPROACH AND HOURLY RATES
Senior Master Cook published the Kings Bench Masters Cost Management Hearings Guidance Note on the 26th September. I am going through this on a topic by topic guide. Here we look at the general approach to budgeting and hourly rates. …
CLAIMANT FAILS IN APPLICATION TO HAVE APPEAL JUDGMENT SET ASIDE: THE SOLICITOR SHOULD HAVE NOTICED THE APPEAL HAD BEEN LISTED: LATE SERVICE MEANS COSTS BUDGET WAS ASSESSED AT NIL
The judgment of Mrs Justice Hill in Deng v Zhang & Anor [2024] EWHC 2392 (KB) shows a case with a whole history of errors and mishaps. The claimant failed to file a cost budget in time but obtained relief…
COST BITES 182: ANOTHER CASE OF A CLAIMANT PAYING THE COSTS OF A BUDGETING HEARING BECAUSE OF AN UNREALISTIC APPROACH
In Jenkins v Thurrock Council [2024] EWHC 2248 (KB) Master Thornett revisited the principles considered in Worcester v Hopley [2024] EWHC 2181 (KB) It was held that the claimant’s unrealistic figures in a costs budget should lead to the claimant paying…
COST BITES 180: EXCESSIVE BUDGET LEADS TO PARTY BEING ORDERED TO PAY THE COSTS OF A BUDGETING HEARING
In Nicholas Worcester v Dr Philip Hopley [2024] EWHC 2181 (KB) Master Thornett awarded costs against a party who, the Master felt, had over-inflated their costs budget. The case stands as a warning that a party putting forward a budget which is…
COST BUDGETS, VARIATIONS AND “SIGNIFICANT DEVELOPMENTS”: JUDGE REFUSES TO REVISE THE BUDGET AFTER TRIAL
In Rahman v Hassan & Ors (Re Consequential Matters) [2024] EWHC 2038 (Ch) HHJ Paul Matthews (sitting as a High Court Judge) refused the claimant’s application that the budget be revised after the trial. The judge held that the matters relied…
COST BITES 173: VARYING A COSTS BUDGET “AFTER THE EVENT”: IF THE APPLICATION WAS NOT “PROMPT” THE BUDGET WILL NOT BE VARIED
We are looking again at the decision in Khokan v Nirjhor (Re Costs) [2024] EWHC 1873 (KB), this time on the issue of costs budgeting. The judge considered the defendant’s budget in unusual circumstances. The claimant’s case had been struck…
“UNNECESSARILY ARGUMENTATIVE OR WASTEFUL CORRESPONDENCE” NOT COUNTENANCED IN COSTS BUDGETING: “IT TAKES TWO TO TANGO”
The post earlier this morning on “intemperate” comments in court documents and correspondence reminded me that I meant to highlight a particular aspect of the judgment in Pan NOx Emissions Litigations [2024] EWHC 1728 (KB). The judgment highlights that unnecessarily argumentative…
COST (MEGA) BITES 168: AN EXHAUSTING READ (V): BUDGETS THAT ARE DESCRIBED AS “ABSURDLY HIGH”, “WHOLLY EXCESSIVE” AND WHICH “STRAINS ALL CREDULITY”
Unsurprisingly we are returning to the judgment in Pan NOx Emissions Litigations [2024] EWHC 1728 (KB). The judges gave some examples of parts of the claimants’ budgets in particular that had been “overbudgeted”. They were not shy IN setting out their…
COST (MEGA) BITES 167: AN EXHAUSTING CASE (IV): “BUT YOURS IS NEARLY AS BIG AS MINE” IS NOT A GOOD ARGUMENT: COSTS BUDGETS COULD NOT BE COMPARED
We are continuing to look at the judgment in relation to the budgets in Pan NOx Emissions Litigations [2024] EWHC 1728 (KB). In this post we are considering the argument that since claimants’ budget was very similar to the defendants’…
COST (MEGA) BITES 166: AN EXAUSTING CASE (iii): “THE CLAIMANTS’ APPROACH TO BUDGETING IS REDOLENT OF FINANCIAL INCONTINENCE”
The general observations made about the budgets in Pan NOx Emissions Litigations [2024] EWHC 1728 (KB) is of importance. The court was particularly scathing of the claimants’ budget. It also rejected the claimants’ contention that the defendants’ budget had been artificially…
COST (MEGA) BITES 165: AN EXHAUSTING CASE (ii): PROPORTIONALITY WHERE THE CLAIMANTS CLAIM THE CASE IS WORTH £6 BILLION: THE PARTIES ARE NOT HANDED A BLANK CHEQUE FOR THE PURPOSE OF RECOVERABLE COSTS
We are continuing with the examination of the judgment of Mr Justice Constable and Senior Costs Judge Saker in Pan NOx Emissions Litigations [2024] EWHC 1728 (KB). This time by looking at the court’s consideration of issues of proportionality when…
COST (MEGA) BITES 164: AN EXHAUSTING CASE:COSTS BUDGETING WHEN THE BUDGETS TOTAL £650 MILLION (1): GENERAL PRINCIPLES
The judgment of Mr Justice Constable sitting with Senior Costs Judge Saker in Pan NOx Emissions Litigations [2024] EWHC 1728 (KB) contains much that is of interest to litigators. The judges budgeted a case where the claimants sought over £342…
COST BITES 159: DEDUCTING COSTS FROM THE CLIENT’S DAMAGES: THE GOLDEN RULE – THAT THE CLIENT SHOULD BE KEPT INFORMED
We are looking again at the judgment in St. James v Wilkin Chapman LLP [2024] EWHC 1716 (KB). The judge considered the question of whether the client had been informed that the budget had been exceeded and that the solicitors…
COST BITES 156: COSTS BUDGETING WAS APPROPRIATE IN THE CASE OF A SERIOUSLY INJURED CHILD: IT HELPS THE CLAIMANT AS MUCH AS THE DEFENDANT
I am grateful to PJ Kirby KC for sending me a copy of the judgment of Master Brown in the case of PXT -v- Atere-Roberts [2024] EWHC 1372 (KB), a copy of which is available here Judgment PXT final 6…
COSTS BUDGETING: ESSENTIAL GUIDANCE FROM COSTS JUDGE BROWN
Costs Judge Simon Brown has produced a Note to assist in the case management and costs budgeting process in Kings Bench Division involving high value personal injury claim. The purpose of the Note is to “provide a neutral approach to…
COST BITES 146: LITIGANT IN PERSON (USING DIRECT ACCESS COUNSEL) WAS TO FILE A COSTS BUDGET
In Cotham School v Bristol City Council & Ors (Ruling on Costs Budgeting) [2024] EWHC 824 (Ch) HHJ Paul Matthews (sitting as a High Court Judge) stated that a litigant in person was to provide a costs budget. The litigant…
COST BITES 132: INTERIM PAYMENTS FOR COSTS AND COSTS OF A CONSEQUENTIAL HEARING
In Lifestyle Equities CV & Anor v Royal County of Berkshire Polo Club Limited & Ors [2023] EWHC 2923 (Ch) Mr Justice Mellor considered issues relating to an interim payment on costs and whether a consequentials hearing should be assessed…
WEBINAR ON CLINICAL NEGLIGENCE COSTS: KING CHAMBERS EVENT: 7th DECEMBER 2023
My colleagues Andrew Hogan and Kevin Latham are presenting a webinar on Clinical Negligence Costs on the 7th December 2023. Booking details are available here. THE WEBINAR In this timely seminar, Andrew Hogan and Kevin Latham will consider current issues in clinical negligence costs…
COST BITES 123: COSTS OF BUDGETING REDUCED BY 25% TO REFLECT CLAIMANT’S UNREALISTIC BUDGET
In Reid v Wye Valley NHS Trust & Anor [2023] EWHC 2843 (KB) Master Brown reduced the recoverable costs of budgeting by 25% to reflect the unrealistic nature of the claimant’s budget. There are important issues here for those who…
RELIEF FROM SANCTIONS REFUSED WHEN THE COSTS BUDGET WAS SERVED LATE: BUDGETING AT TRIAL IS A FAIRLY HOPELESS TASK
There is much to learn from the decision of Mr Justice Ritchie in Tan v Idlbi & Anor [2023] EWHC 2840 (KB). The claimant was unsuccessful in an application for relief from sanctions following late service of the costs budget….
COST BITES 122: THE APPROPRIATE ORDER FOR COSTS WHEN BOTH SIDES “WIN” AND BOTH SIDES “LOSE”: THE IMPORTANCE OF THE COSTS BUDGET
We are returning to an examination of costs orders made and their practical implications for the client. In Aymes International Ltd v Nutrition4u BV & Ors [2023] EWHC 2672 (Ch) HHJ Hodge KC (sitting as a High Court Judge) considered…
COST BITES 119: COSTS BUDGETING: DEFENDANT ALLOWED TO VARY ITS BUDGET TO INCLUDE COSTS ALREADY INCURRED OBTAINING SURVEILLANCE EVIDENCE
There is a report of an interesting decision of Master McCloud in Yelland -v- Space Engineering Services Ltd [2023] EWHC 2823 (KB). The report is from Sean Linley of Carter Burnett and can be read here. There is a link to…
COST BITES 116: YOU CAN’T AVOID PAYING THE COSTS OF AN APPLICATION AND APPEAL JUST BECAUSE THEY WEREN’T IN THE COSTS BUDGET…
We have seen some “interesting” submissions in relation to costs on this blog. However one of the most novel is the point taken by the Third Party in South Tees Development Corporation & Anor v PD Teesport Ltd & Anor…
COST BITES 96: A “REPLACEMENT” BUDGET WAS SERVED LATE: RELIEF FROM SANCTIONS GRANTED
In Henderson and Jones Ltd v Stargunter Ltd & Anor [2023] EWHC 1849 (TCC) Neil Moody KC (sitting as a High Court Judge) considered whether a formal application for relief from sanctions was needed in a case where a party…
COST BITES 94: SOLICITOR AND OWN CLIENT COSTS: COSTS BUDGETING: BUDGETING OVERSPEND: THE DUTY TO WARN: THE APPROPRIATE SUCCESS FEE
In JXC v NIS [2023] EWHC 1000 (SCCO) Costs Judge Leonard considered issues relating to the recoverability of costs from the client over and above those recovered inter-partes. This case shows the importance of informing the client about the costs…
COST BITES 92: THE TRANSIT OF VENUS, THE WISDOM OF SOLOMON AND THE QUESTION OF WHETHER TIME SPENT AT CASE MANAGEMENT MEETINGS IS RECOVERABLE INTER PARTES
I am grateful to Andrew Davis KC for bringing my attention to the judgment of Master McCloud in Hadley v Przybylo (Costs, Costs budgeting, Costs lawyers, personal injury, case manager, recoverability) [2023] EWHC 1392 (KB). The Master rejected the argument…
CLAIMANTS’ APPLICATION TO VARY COSTS BUDGET DISMISSED: A SELF – IMPOSED DIFFICULTY DID NOT (ON THESE FACTS) AMOUNT TO A SIGNIFICANT DEVELOPMENT
In Simpsons (Preston) Ltd & Anor v MS Amlin Underwriting Ltd [2023] EWHC 1370 (Comm) HHJ Pearce refused the claimants’ application to vary the costs budget in relation to disclosure. The reason the application was made because the claimants had…
COST BITES 87: ISSUES RELATING TO EXCEEDING THE BUDGET LEFT TO THE COSTS JUDGE
In BES Commercial Electricity Ltd & Ors v Cheshire West And Chester Council [2022] EWHC 3333 (KB) Mr Justice Freedman declined an invitation to give any indication in relation to the defendant’s application to depart from its budget. The matter…
COST BITES 83: DEFENDANT SERVING BUDGET LATE SCRAPES HOME IN A “BORDERLINE” CASE
In K/S Mountain Invest v Ducat Maritime Ltd [2023] EWHC 939 (Comm) HHJ Keyser KC (sitting as a High Court Judge) granted the defendant relief from sanctions following the late filing of its costs budget. The defendant was, perhaps, fortunate….
COST BITES 82: WHEN THE SIZE OF THE COSTS STARTS TO SWAMP THE SIZE OF THE ESTATE: AN EXHORTATION TO PARTIES INVOLVED IN INHERITANCE CLAIMS
The judgment of Master Brightwell in Amnir & Ors v Bala & Ors [2023] EWHC 1054 (Ch) contains a warning to many, if not all, litigants, particularly those involved in Inheritance Act claims. The size of the costs in the…
COST BITES 75: LIABILITY TO COSTS: RETROSPECTIVE ATTEMPT TO VARY COSTS BUDGET: WITHOUT PREJUDICE OFFER AFFECTS LIABILITY TO COSTS MADE PRIOR TO THAT OFFER
We looked at the judgment of HHJ Hodge QC (sitting as a High Court judge) in Wigan Borough Council v Scullindale Global Ltd & Ors [2021] EWHC 779 (Ch) in an earlier post on Proving Things. There is a subsequent…
HEARING AND TRIAL BUNDLES: ARE THE COSTS OF PREPARATION RECOVERABLE? WELL, YES THEY ARE (IN PART)
There was some discussion on Twitter earlier this evening as to whether the cost of preparing bundles is recoverable at all. Since we have not had a case featuring a judicial complaint about bundles for several months* and “bundle cases”…
WHAT IS THE BEST COSTS ADVICE YOU CAN GIVE TO A YOUNG LAWYER? THE ENTRIES
What single piece of Advice on costs would you give to a young lawyer to stand them in good stead throughout their career? This was the question asked in the contest started last month. The contest has a prize generously…
COST BITES 54: THOSE COSTS BUDGETS MAY BE AGREED BUT THEY ARE NEITHER REASONABLE NOR PROPORTIONATE: AND THE COURT IS GOING TO SAY SO.
In Lemos & Ors v Church Bay Trust Company Ltd & Ors [2023] EWHC 157 (Ch) Insolvency and Companies Court Judge Jones made it clear that he did not accept the reasonableness of the costs budgets of both parties. The…
COSTS BITES 53: POSSIBILITY OF AN APPEAL AND INABILITY TO RELY ON COSTS BUDGET ARE NOT GROUNDS FOR REFUSING AN INTERIM ORDER FOR COSTS
In Isaac v Tan & Anor (Re Costs) [2022] EWHC 3478 (Ch) Mr Justice Adam Johnson considered issues of costs following an unsuccessful unfair prejudice application relating to the shares of Cardiff City Football Club. He held that the application…
COST BITES 50: USEFUL LINKS ON COSTS FROM KINGS CHAMBERS: TAKE YOUR PICK…
There are a large number of helpful links on Kings Chambers’ Resource page. Here I link specifically to those relating to costs. Firstly the newsletters and articles and secondly the regular series of webinars. NEWSLETTERS Costs Litigation Newsletter:…
COST BITES 45: COURT REJECTS DEFENDANT’S APPLICATION THAT CASE INVOLVING A CHILD BE BUDGETED: ACCEPTS CLAIMANT’S APPLICATION FOR AN INTERIM PAYMENT ON COSTS – BUT NOT THE AMOUNT CLAIMED
In CXS v Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust [2023] EWHC 14 (KB) Master Cook considered issues relating to costs in a case concerning a child where the matter is unlikely to be resolved for many years. The Master rejected…
COST BITES 33: BUDGETS: PROPORTIONALITY, COUNSEL’S FEES (“STRATOSPHERIC”, OR “ASPIRATIONAL”) THE COST OF EXPERTS AND THE COSTS OF TRIAL
There is a detailed exposition of the principles relating to costs budgeting in the judgment of Mrs Justice Joanna Smith in Various Sam Borrowers v BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages) No. 1 Plc & Ors [2022] EWHC 2594 (Ch). The judgment…
COST BITES 30: OTHER PEOPLE’S BUDGETS: NONE OF THESE BUDGETS IS UNREASONABLE OR DISPROPORTIONATE
It is always interesting to look at the figures involved in relation to costs budgeting. We can see an example in the decision of Mr Roger Ter Haar KC in University of Manchester v John McAslan & Partners Ltd &…
COST BITES 29: THE PRINCIPLES OF BUDGETING CONSIDERING AND APPLIED: 15% REDUCTION TO BUDGET
In Associated Newspapers Ltd v Buckingham Group Contracting Ltd (Cost Budgeting) [2022] EWHC 2767 (TCC) Mr Roger Ter Haar KC considered principles relating to the budgeting process. He reduced a budget by 15% across the board. “In my judgment, the…
THE CONSEQUENCES OF FAILING TO FILE A BUDGET DISCUSSION REPORT: A CASE TO CONSIDER
I am grateful to Jodie Davis from Irwin Mitchell for sending me a note of a judgment given in a case relating to non-service of the Budget discussion report. The note is reproduced in full below. There is an interesting…