Direct Access

finding the right guidance

If you’ve been involved in a legal case, you may have an order for costs to be paid to you, or you may face a claim for legal costs from the other side.

Alternatively, you may be concerned about the charges your solicitor has made to you.

If you’re in this situation, it’s vital that you get experienced, knowledgeable guidance from a specialist Costs Lawyer. We frequently help clients to both recover costs and fight against legal costs claims and achieve great results.

Case Study

Client: Individual Litigant in Person (Defendant)

Type of Case: Housing

Brief: To advise on merits of the opponent’s costs claim and appear as Defendant’s advocate in court assessment

Time to complete: ½ day court assessment

Result: Reduced a £181,000 Bill of Costs served on my client down to £28,350.

The Matter

We represented an individual Litigant in Person who had been subject to a housing-related claim brought by the local council. Our client had been unsuccessful at trial in the original claim and the court had made an order requiring him to pay the Claimant’s costs of the case, to be assessed if not agreed.

The Costs Issues

As the claim had been allocated to the multi-track, it was subject to costs management. A Costs Budget had been set by the court, theoretically limiting the amount the Claimant could recover from the Defendant (our client) in costs. Following the Claimant succeeding at trial, however, and a costs order being made in its favour, it prepared and served a Bill of Costs seeking recovery of £181,000 in costs from our client. This sum was very substantially in excess of the amount that had been approved by the judge in the Claimant’s Costs Budget.

Our client, who was a private individual, was therefore confronted with a very substantial costs claim which he had neither expected to face nor had the means to pay. He initially instructed a different, but well-known, costs firm to represent him in his opposition to the costs claim. That costs firm prepared Points of Dispute in response to the Claimant’s Bill of Costs on the Defendant’s behalf.

The Claimant served Replies to the Points of Dispute arguing that there was ‘good reason’ to depart from the Costs Budget that the judge had set due to a number of factors, including the fact that the Defendant has raised issues in relation to the contents of the trial bundles, necessitating the Claimant to undertake additional work which had not been previously accounted for. Consequently, the Claimant maintained that the £181,000 costs it now claimed were recoverable from the Defendant. The Claimant also made a compromise Part 36 offer to settle the costs claim in the sum of £118,000.

In light of the Claimant’s position, the Defendant consulted his previous costs firm for advice. They advised him that the Claimant council was likely to be successful in its argument that there was good reason to depart from the Costs Budget, and therefore that the Defendant should make a counter-offer to pay £90,000. The costs firm further advised that, if £90,000 were not agreed by the Claimant, then the Defendant should consider accepting the Claimant’s £118,000 offer.

Our Approach

It was at this point that the Defendant sought help from Whittakers Legal Costs. Following an initial discussion in which we obtained details of the background and the concerns from him, we reviewed the technical costs issues, in particular the question of whether there was good reason for the Claimant to depart from the Costs Budget in accordance with Civil Procedure Rule 3.18(b). Contrary to the advice provided by the previous costs firm, we formed the view that we would be able to persuade the Costs Judge that there was no good reason to depart from the Costs Budget that had been previously set.

On that basis, we agreed to represent the Defendant at the forthcoming costs assessment hearing and he transferred instructions from his previous costs firm to us. We were able to offer the Defendant a competitive fee arrangement which he could fund, and which was significantly cheaper than the amount he had previously been quoted for an advocate’s fee. As such the Defendant had the benefit of proper, qualified representation at the costs hearing which he would not otherwise have been able to afford.

Our dedicated Costs Lawyer remained in communication with the Defendant to obtain background information and instructions, provided clear advice as to what would happen at the court assessment hearing and made all due preparations to ensure the best possible chance of a positive outcome.

The Outcome

On the morning of the hearing we had a conference with our client at court and subsequently went before the Cost Judge to make our submissions. Despite the Claimant’s advocate’s objections, we were successful in persuading the Costs Judge that there was no good reason to depart from the Costs Budget and as such, the Bill of Costs was reduced from £180,000 to just £28,350. Furthermore, we were also able to secure reimbursement of Whittakers’ fees for attendance at the hearing from the opponent.

The Defendant was extremely happy with this outcome and the service provided by Whittakers. As a result of our intervention, the amount he was liable to pay was £90,000 less than if he had followed the advice of his previous costs firm to consider acceptance of the Claimant’s £118,000 offer. Additionally, he had the benefit of Whittakers’ services effectively at zero cost, as all of our fees were recovered from the Claimant. Our client expressed his thanks for the professionalism and skill of his dedicated Costs Lawyer and was happy to recommend Whittakers to others.