Steven Davies reports on a new frontier in the ‘costs war’ & the threat of increased satellite litigation
Costs-related arguments have always had a habit for creating satellite litigation and a recent flurry of cases indicates that the newest outbreak of the ‘costs war’ comes from solicitor-client costs disputes over deductions made from damages to pay their solicitor’s costs in personal injury cases.
The 2013 Jackson reforms essentially authorised the deduction of costs to a maximum of 25% of the damages recovered, which has caused an increased focus from clients on their legal bills. Three recent cases, decided in the Senior Courts Costs Office, are discussed below.
Costs bill challenge
Green & Ors v SGI Legal LLP [2017] EWHC B27 (Costs) was heard by Master Leonard. The four former clients of Liverpool firm SGI Legal had wanted copies of the documents to challenge a costs bill, and applied for disclosure of copies of funding documents, copies of all correspondence sent to them and copies of all invoices prepared during the life of the claim.
