Judge curbs excessive demands

Singh v Global Solutions UK

(Doncaster County Court - 3 December 2007)

The claimant, a minor, was injured in a road traffic accident. Damages were agreed and then approved by the court at an infant approval hearing.

Both parties agreed that the claimant was entitled to fixed recoverable costs pursuant to part 45 of the Civil Procedure Rules. Part 45.10 of the rules states that the court may allow a claim for a disbursement of a type mentioned in paragraph two but must not allow a claim for any other type of disbursement. Among the disbursements listed in paragraph two are fees payable for instructing counsel where they are necessarily incurred by reason of one or more of the claimants being a child.

The court was asked to consider whether counsels fee for representing the claimant at the approval hearings fell within the list of recoverable disbursements. The defendant argued that as the claimant could have been represented by a solicitor at the approval hearings, it was not necessary to incur a fee by instructing counsel and therefore such fees were not recoverable.

The court found for the defendant and noted that had the claimant been represented by his solicitor, his solicitors fee would have fallen in the amount of fixed recoverable costs. It was not necessary to instruct counsel and in those circumstances counsels fees were not recoverable from the defendant.

COMMENT

Before the hearing of this case, the claimant's solicitors suggested that their claim for counsel's hearing fees had never been disputed before. This case shows that a disbursement that has been routinely paid to date may now be saved.

Further, as the judge noted during the proceedings, the fixed recoverable costs regime is clearly tight - if you do not come within the listed factors then you do not get your money.

Martin Saunders, motor and casualty manager of Allianz Insurance, who ran the case, said: "Claimant costs continue to spiral and need to be controlled.

This case has seen a reminder delivered to those who make excessive demands that the courts will exercise their powers and disallow payments where the rules permit."

Arion Jones, BLM Liverpool

The following law report contributed by specialist insurance practice Berrymans Lace Mawer first appeared in Post Magazine on 6 March 2008.

Disclaimer: The law report contains information of general interest about current legal issues, it does not present a complete or comprehensive statement of the law, nor does it constitute legal advice. Specialist legal advice should always be sought in any particular case.