This category can only be viewed by members.
Third-party cost orders; disclosure ‘There will be palpable relief among solicitors that the payment of disbursements and provision of credit has roundly been dismissed as a test for establishing that a funder is “a real party” to proceedings.’ On 10 April 2013 the Court of Appeal handed down judgment in the conjoined appeals in Flatman …
Continue reading "Case Report: Gavin Flatman v Gill Germany; Richard Weddall v Barchester Health Care Ltd [2013] EWCA Civ 278"
This post is only available to members.
Paul Jones reviews the transitional arrangements relating to detailed assessment of costs ‘Part 36 offers will now be a relevant factor in relation to the costs of detailed assessment as will any other “admissible offer to settle”, which would, presumably, exclude without prejudice offers but allow open offers and Calderbank offers.’ The 1 April reforms …
Continue reading "Costs: Confusion reigns"
This post is only available to members.
Araba Taylor considers the affairs of the incapacitated in the first of two articles The test of the mental capacity of a litigant either to bring litigation or to commence civil proceedings, without the need for a litigation friend, depends on the specific transaction involved. Clients without capacity present client care issues for all practitioners, …
Continue reading "Client Care: Clients without capacity – taking instructions"
This post is only available to members.
Mark Bailey provides a defendant’s perspective of the post-April changes and how these should be tackled It is proposed that once a costs management order has been made and a budget approved, the court will thereafter control the parties’ budgets. The purpose of this article is to look at aspects of the new rules, potential …
Continue reading "Civil Procedure Rules: Collaborative costs management – a way forward?"
This post is only available to members.
Paul Jones looks at the pros and cons DBAs provide a whole new wilderness for the majority of personal injury lawyers to navigate through. Conditional fee agreements (CFA) were confusing enough when they were first introduced but now we have new-style CFAs (with unrecoverable success fees and ATE premiums) sitting alongside DBAs. The main provisions …
Continue reading "Funding: Damages-based agreements: the basics"
This post is only available to members.
Robert Cumming gives a view from the Bar and considers the practical consequences of the new rules The introduction of the CPR 1998 ushered in a new culture of active case management. Parties were no longer to be trusted to run their litigation efficiently free from judicial scrutiny. In little over three years Lord Justice …
Continue reading "Procedural Reform: PI litigation in Jackson’s brave new world"
This post is only available to members.
Andrew Hogan reviews the first Court of Appeal decision and if it will be possible to depart from an approved budget Because they are simply ‘taken into account’, if an arbitrary figure of costs claimed in the bill exceeds by 20% more than the estimate, on any assessment, they are often breached with impunity. On …
Continue reading "Costs Budgeting: A new era in satellite litigation?"
This post is only available to members.
Contemporaneous evidence; contributory negligence Significantly, in the later of the two reports, when the line manager had had further time to reflect, criticism was leveled at the project manager, the contractors and the porter for not doing their jobs properly.In this case, it was held that an allegation of contributory negligence had to fail where …
Continue reading "Case Report: Germaine v Epsom & St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust [2013] All ER (D) 248 (Jan)"
This post is only available to members.
Georgina Hirsch highlights the main changes The government justifies the removal of a loss of earnings award to those still in work on the grounds that the state already compensates them.Austerity has affected many aspects of justice in the UK, and compensation for victims of violence is no exception. On 27 November 2012 a new …
Continue reading "Victims Of Violence: Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme 2012"
This post is only available to members.
Limitation; discretion; burden of proof It should not be necessary for judges in the county court to engage in textual analysis of a series of appellate decisions in order to discern whether a claimant relying on s33 had a ‘burden’ or a ‘heavy burden’ to discharge. This case helpfully provides a final answer to the …
Continue reading "Case Report: Sayers v Chelwood & anor [2012] EWCA Civ 1715"
This post is only available to members.
