EAT PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE – Costs
Wasted costs – Claim brought under contingency fee arrangements under which solicitors would not represent client at hearing but would require to be put in funds to instruct counsel – Claimant unable and unwilling, as should have been apparent if he had been properly advised, to engage counsel if claim did not settle before hearing – Employers refuse to contemplate settlement – Judge finds, after hearing evidence from both Claimant and solicitor, both of whom are cross-examined, that solicitors (a) failed to advise Claimant timeously that there was no prospect of settlement and (b) when, later, Claimant himself gave instructions to withdraw failed to implement those instructions until they were repeated a few days before the hearing – On that basis ordered to pay employers’ wasted costs as from the date at which the Claimant would, if timeously advised, have withdrawn – Judge refused to allow solicitors to produce their file for the first time at the hearing for the purpose of demonstrating that Claimant had in fact been properly advised.
Judges:
Underhill P J
Citations:
[2011] UKEAT 0608 – 10 – 3108
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Employment
Updated: 19 September 2022; Ref: scu.443575
