The recent case of Barclay v Tuck discussed the settled principles that a court has to consider when an application for committal is made. Spencer J heard the case on 14 May 2018. Continue reading
REUTERS | Gonzalo Fuentes
July 16, 2018
Committal for contempt
REUTERS | Navesh Chitrakar
The indemnity principle is the kernel of costs recovery. A party ordered to pay costs is required to reimburse no more than the sum that the receiving party is liable to pay their own solicitors. If the contract of retainer between the receiving party and their own solicitor is unenforceable for any reason, then by operation of the indemnity principle, there are no costs for the paying party to indemnify, so their liability under the costs order is nil (see Harold v Smith (1860) and Gundry v Sainsbury (1910)). Continue reading
REUTERS | Dominic Ebenbichler
July 10, 2018
Damages-based agreements: a chance to make them work?
It is now more than eight years since Sir Rupert Jackson published the final report in his Civil Litigation Review, which recommended sweeping reforms to how litigation is funded. It is more than five years since those reforms were implemented, in large part, via Part 2 of the inaptly named (for these purposes) Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO). The government’s recently launched post-implementation review of the legislation gives those affected by the reforms an opportunity to say what is, and isn’t, working via an online survey. Continue reading