A plaintiff could recover the costs of insuring himself against the risk of having to pay the other sides costs, and finding his own costs irrecoverable (after the event or ATE insurance). The earlier case had decided that such premiums may be recoverable, but the court did not have sufficient information to decide what was a reasonable premium. Several elements were clearly required to be covered by a premium, such as would make the insurer’s business properly viable, but the premium was challenged as to the benefit payable by way of re-imbursement of disbursements paid by the insured in the event of a failure of the claim. S29 should be read to include the insurance for costs which were not recoverable from the other party, including such disbursements.
The court defined insurance: ‘Insurance is the purchase of an indemnity against the risk of loss caused by a fortuity’.
Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, Master of the Rolls, and Lord Justice Brooke
Times 24-Oct-2001, [2001] EWCA Civ 1246, [2001] 1 WLR 2142, [2001] 2 Costs LR 205, [2002] RTR 11, [2001] 4 All ER 1, [2001] CPLR 501, [2001] Lloyd’s Rep IR 765
Bailii
Access to Justice Act 1999 29
England and Wales
Citing:
See Also – Callery v Gray, Russell v Pal Pak Corrugated Ltd (No 1) CA 18-Jul-2001
Claimants in modest, straightforward personal injury claims cases should have re-imbursed to them by the defendant, the cost of after the event insurance, if necessary by costs only proceedings. The solicitor’s success fee should also be recovered. . .
Cited by:
Cited – Sarwar v Alam CA 19-Sep-2001
Litigation had followed an accident. The claimant, a passenger, sought and won damages for personal injuries. He had taken out legal expenses insurance, and at dispute was the recovery of the cost of that insurance. He had been unaware of having the . .
Cited – Halloran v Delaney CA 6-Sep-2002
The claimant had succeeded in his claim for personal injuries, and had issued costs only proceedings. The defendant challenged the ‘success fee’ claimed as part of the conditional fee arrangement.
Held: The costs recoverable were to be . .
Cited – In re Claims Direct Test Cases CA 12-Feb-2003
The parties sought repayment as part of their costs of insurance premiums paid by claimants undertaking litigation.
Held: The underwriters charged andpound;140.00 for each case. Claims Direct charged a premium of andpound;1,250.00 for each . .
See Also – Callery v Gray, Russell v Pal Pak Corrugated Ltd (No 1) CA 18-Jul-2001
Claimants in modest, straightforward personal injury claims cases should have re-imbursed to them by the defendant, the cost of after the event insurance, if necessary by costs only proceedings. The solicitor’s success fee should also be recovered. . .
Appeal from – Callery v Gray (1) and (2) HL 27-Jun-2002
Success fees and ATE premiums were recoverable
Objection was made to a claimed uplift of 20% sought by the plaintiff’s solicitors. The defendant’s insurers said that there had been little at risk for them.
Held: The system of conditional fees insurance had been introduced to remedy defects . .
Cited – Sibthorpe and Morris v London Borough of Southwark CA 25-Jan-2011
The court was asked as to the extent to which the ancient rule against champerty prevents a solicitor agreeing to indemnify his claimant client against any liability for costs which she may incur against the defendant in the litigation in which the . .
Cited – McGraddie v McGraddie and Another (Scotland : Costs) SC 28-Jan-2015
The parties, father and son had fallen out. The father said that a property purhased by the son with money provided by the father, was held in trust for the father. The Court had rejected the argument of the son that this had been a gift. The . .
Cited – Times Newspapers Ltd and Others v Flood and Others SC 11-Apr-2017
Three newspaper publishers, having lost defamation cases, challenged the levels of costs awarded against them, saying that the levels infringed their own rights of free speech.
Held: Each of the three appeals was dismissed. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 22 October 2021; Ref: scu.166715
