The parties had been involved in compensation claims. Complaint was made that the solicitors had recovered fees for action which substantially was intended to benefit the solicitor. The conditional fee agreements had been found to be unenforceable. At stake for each client was about pounds 2,500. At stake for the solicitors was pounds 250,000.
Held: The court did have jurisdiction to order solicitors in such a case to contribute to the costs of the other side. They should in this case pay 50% of the respondents costs.
Citations:
Times 27-Mar-2007, [2007] EWCA Civ 307, [2007] 4 All ER 1094, [2007] PNLR 25, [2007] 1 WLR 1559, [2007] 4 Costs LR 564
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
Appeal from – Myatt, Ellis, Edwards, Rodger v National Coal Board SCCO 12-Aug-2005
. .
Cited – Symphony Group Plc v Hodgson CA 4-May-1993
A section 51 non-party costs application should not be used as a substitute for the pursuit of a related cause of action against the non-party in ordinary proceedings. Nine rules were set out for allowing a costs order against someone who is not a . .
Cited – Dymocks Franchise Systems (NSW) Pty Ltd v Todd and others (No. 2) PC 21-Jul-2004
PC (New Zealand) Costs were sought against a non-party, following an earlier determination by the Board.
Held: Jurisdiction to make such an order was not complete. Where the order sought was against a . .
Cited – Tolstoy-Miloslavsky v Aldington CA 27-Dec-1995
Solicitors who unreasonably commence proceedings may be subject to a wasted costs order, but there should be no award of costs against a solicitor solely because he acted without a fee. An award of costs should not be made against a solicitor who . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Legal Professions, Costs
Updated: 06 November 2022; Ref: scu.251399