Fixed costs ousted by agreement
In Turner v Cole, a regional costs judge held that an agreement between the parties ousted the fixed costs regime. Continue reading
REUTERS | Ralph Orlowski
March 9, 2020
Costs round-up February 2020 (Part 3)
REUTERS |
March 6, 2020
Costs round-up February 2020 (Part 2)
Qualified one-way costs shifting: defendant can set off against costs awarded to claimant
In Faulkner v Secretary of State for Business, Energy And Industrial Strategy, the Queen’s Bench Division of the High Court considered the Kafkaesque issue of whether a defendant failing to set aside a notice of discontinuance could then rely on that discontinuance to set off its costs (automatic on discontinuance) against the costs order made against it on its failed application. Continue reading
REUTERS | Jorge Silva
March 5, 2020
Costs round-up February 2020 (Part 1)
Wasted costs against expert
In Thimmaya v Lancashire NHS Foundation Trust and another, a circuit judge made a third party costs order against an expert in the sum of £88,801.68 under section 51 of the Senior Courts Act 1981. The expert, who appeared for the claimant at trial, “was wholly unable to articulate the test to be applied in determining breach of duty in a clinical negligence case”. As a result, the claimant had to discontinue the case, and the defendant successfully obtained a third party costs order against him. The parties agreed, and the court accepted, that the court’s jurisdiction in such a matter is to be exercised on the same basis as a wasted costs order. Continue reading