Arguably, Lord Justice Jackson’s most significant recommendation, in his Final Report, is an end to recovery between the parties of success fees. This proposal will lead to obvious and huge savings to defendants. Those who think that current political uncertainty will lead to much of the Report being shelved should think again. Whichever party is …
Under the old Conditional Fee Agreement Regulations 2000 a solicitor had a duty, before entering into a CFA, to inform the client “whether the legal representative considers that the client’s risk of incurring liability for costs in respect of the proceedings to which agreement relates is insured against under an existing contract of insurance” (Regulation 4(2)(c)). …
As the tension mounts as to what might be going through the mind of Lord Justice Jackson as he prepares his final report on his civil costs review, might he be influenced by the litigation landscape north of the boarder? The recently published Report of the Scottish Civil Courts Review states that the majority of …
A working alternative to recoverable success fees? Read More »
The, now revoked, Collective Conditional Fee Agreement Regulations 2000 state: “5. (1) Where a collective conditional fee agreement provides for a success fee the agreement must provide that, when accepting instructions in relation to any specific proceedings the legal representative must prepare and retain a written statement containing – (a) his assessment of the probability …
In a previous posting (read here) I discussed the old rules relating to providing information about the funding of a claim. The latest update to the Civil Procedure Rules has made important amendments which came into force on 1st October 2009. The old CPR 44.3B read: “(1) A party may not recover as …
The old Practice Direction – Protocols (PDP), at paragraph 4, stated: “A.1 Where a person enters into a funding arrangement within the meaning of rule 43.2(1)(k) he should inform other potential parties to the claim that he has done so. A.2 Paragraph 4A.1 applies to all proceedings whether proceedings to which a …
Most Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA) challenges follow a well-trodden path. However, occasionally a new variation arises where there is no authority directly on all fours. This happened in the recent case of Smith v Carpetright plc, heard by Regional Cost Judge Sparrow in Norwich County Court. The Claimant had entered into a CFA with Godfrey …
The Claims for you (a trading name of Wixted & Co solicitors) website claims that they succeed in 98% of their accident claims. If true, this is an impressive success rate. However it does raise a number of issues: 1. Is this success rate not a reflection of the quality of the lawyers who work …
Under the, now revoked, CFA Regulations 2000 there was a duty to advise a client whether the legal representative considered that the client was insured under an existing contract of insurance (BTE) before the CFA was entered into (Regulation 4(2)(c)). Failure to do this would render the CFA invalid. Since the Court of Appeal decision …
Tranter v Hansons (Wordsley) Ltd – Duty to investigate BTE Read More »
Advising clients on the level of success fee that might be allowed in any given case is an inherently difficult task given the unpredictability of the courts. Another reason why it is difficult to advise is due to the method by which success fee are normally calculated. The courts generally accept, as a starting point, …
