Writing in NLJ this week, Mentor Nika, costs draftsman at DMD Costs, unpicks the Ministry of Defence’s settlement Matrix and warns against confusing compensation compromises with costs entitlement.
The Matrix resolves specified liability disputes through reductions in damages. Whether costs are payable, and how much, depends on the actual agreement, court order and applicable rules.
Nor does Abbott’s award of 60% of common costs establish a universal cap: it reflected mixed success in generic and test litigation.
Claimants should not assume unlimited recovery, however. Reasonableness, proportionality and potentially fixed recoverable costs still matter.
Nika urges practitioners to spell out costs terms and separate common work from individual claims.
‘The decisive documents are the agreement & order,’ he writes. A damages percentage cannot do the work of a costs clause or the CPR.
