The solicitors appealed against a wasted costs order. In defending a client on an allegation fo domestic violence they sought assistance from a local authrityabout a foster child. They drafted a witness summons, and served it on the authority, but the judge refused the summons. The solicitors failed to inform the authority that the summons had been refused, and the authority’s witness attended with counsel. The solcitors said that this had been a mistake, but of not sufficient seriousness to justify a wasted costs order.
Held: The appeal succeeded. The real fault lay in not having a system within the office to deal with urgent faxes arriving in the absence of the firm’s principal: ‘We think it was an error but to characterise it as a ‘serious error’, or more importantly ‘serious misconduct’, in our judgment, went too far. Accordingly this appeal is, for that reason, allowed.’
Judges:
Sir Anthony May P, Simon, Blake JJ
Citations:
[2008] EWCA Crim 3085
Links:
Statutes:
Costs in Criminal Cases Regulations 1991 39c), Prosecution of Offences Act 1985 19B
Legal Professions
Updated: 24 July 2022; Ref: scu.341707
