QOCS or Qualified One-Way Costs Shifting was introduced to protect the position of Personal Injury Claimants. In 2013 such claimants lost the right to recover, from the other side, the cost of insurance against the risk of adverse costs. The trade-off was QOCS. An unsuccessful claimant would not be ordered to pay the costs of…
The High Court has today handed down judgment in the landmark case of Higgins and Co v Evans – https://www.4newsquare.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Higgins-Co-v-Evans-Approved-Judgment.pdf We acted for the Solicitors, Higgins and Co in the Appeal before Saini J. The case was all about what is known as the ‘death’ clause in the Law Society’s Standard CFA. Many practitioners will…
Walsh v Greystone Financial Services Ltd [2019] EWHC 2573 (Ch) This is a significant decision in relation to termination of a Solicitor’s retainer. The background is very familiar. The client wanted to instruct new solicitors in relation to an appeal following dismissal of the original claim. Mr Walsh instructed Firm 2, to advise on the…
Costs Budgeting is an area of concern for many firms. A number of recent cases have reinforced the importance of the budget. Notably, in the well known case of Harrison v University Hospitals Coventry & Warwickshire Hospitals NHS Trust the Court of Appeal approved the earlier decision in Merrix that the court will not depart…
Claims for damages arising out of flight delays are usually of relatively low value. They are normally brought under the European Small Claims Procedure. This procedure includes an entitlement to legal costs. But those costs should not be disproportionate. This has been an issue in the recent case of Senior v Blue Air reported in…
The role of the costs lawyer, in personal injury cases, has traditionally been to secure the best outcome for instructing solicitors on behalf of a receiving party following litigation. This was particularly the case prior to April 2013 when the loser normally paid the whole of the costs, success fees and ATE Insurance. From April…
This is a situation that is familiar to all of us. You see your opponents bill of costs. The charges are much higher than yours. It must therefore be wrong. This is particularly so for claimants in Personal Injury and Medical Negligence cases where a lot of front ended work is often needed. It is…
Considering the Court of Appeal Judgment in West v Stockport NHS Foundation Trust and Demouilpied v Stockport NHS Foundation Trust [2019] EWCA Civ 1220. Disputes over the levels of premiums for After the Event Insurance (ATE) have been reducing steadily since 2013. After that date it was no longer possible, in most cases, to recover…