UK Civil Litigation: Recovering and Protecting Costs

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Unlike other areas of law (such as the family courts) in civil litgation, costs are a major factor.

We have had many clients come to us after getting an order from an interim hearing ordering that they pay those costs of their opponent (sometimes a barrister) of £1,500 or £2,000 + VAT. They are confused and wonder what they did wrong.

We also have people who want to know if they can claim their own costs, because, after all, they will often have spent a huge amount of their time on a case, or whether they will get all their costs back if they win, or will then end up getting their costs slashed by a judge?

What about all this talk by judges of "proportionate" cost. What does it mean?

Another question you might have is should you go for summary costs assessment, or "detailed assessment" - yes, this a separate court, with specialist "costs" solicitors and barristers who do nothing else!

And of course, that perennial question of whether you can you ever get costs back on the small claims track, if your opponent has behaved badly?

Finally, what about courtwingman costs? Can you get those back?

This video will answer all those questions and more and will help not only litigants-in-person but those who have lawyers too. Click below for the book and the video. Or book a legal surgery for £150 - no vat.

TOPICS COVERED:

Timecodes
0:00 - Intro
4:00 - Interim Hearings amendment costs
7:00 - Do you get your full costs if you win? Indemnity costs, proportionality & fixed costs regime.
19:00 - Summary or "detailed" assessment? - 19 mins
23:30 - Can you get your own, personal costs for running the case yourself, as a litigant in person?
27:30 - Can you get back support service legal costs, eg. courtwingman costs?
31:00 - Unreasonable conduct costs on the small claims track

LINKS:

https://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/pro...

Campbell v Campbell [2016] EWHC 2237 (Ch). Chief Master Marsh
• 32. I can see no reason, however, to construe CPR 46.5(3) narrowly so as to prevent a litigant in person recovering the cost of assistance in the course of the litigant in person conducting the claim. The Direct Access scheme, whether it is used for advocacy or other assistance, provides a litigant in person with expertise which may be essential to be able to progress a claim in an orderly manner and is likely to be of assistance to the court for that reason. Similarly, it is clearly contemplated that a litigant in person may pay for and recover the cost of “legal services” relating to the conduct of the proceedings. In a complex claim, the litigant in person may wish, for example, to obtain assistance with disclosure or the drafting of witness statements. This is part of the unbundling of legal services contemplated by Lord Woolf