Unforeseen costs can be unavoidable, but amending a budget upwards is no easy task, as Patrick Allen & Riffat Yaqub explain
- In the case of Al-Najar v Cumberland Hotel (London) Ltd , there was dispute about whether a large unanticipated disclosure amounted to a ‘significant development’.
- The master sent a strong message that not to allow an increase in such a case could lead to budgeteers making wildly overcautious budgets.
Cost budgets have been controversial from the outset, as they involve a significant element of crystal ball gazing. Predicting the future is not an exact science. By contrast, analysing the past is usually instructive. Trying to predict the course of litigation is particularly fraught as it depends on many factors outside the control of the budgeting party, eg conduct by the other party, experts, and decisions of the court.
Tactical tools
The theory behind budgets is that they control costs, but this is incorrect. They control the costs which can be recovered from an opponent. This is not the same as the costs which must be spent on winning
