Charles Brasted & Julia Marlow review protective costs orders in judicial review
The perennial issue of the cost of litigation and its impact on access to justice is under the spotlight again in Lord Justice Jackson’s ongoing Civil Litigation Costs Review (the Jackson Review).
Nowhere is the issue of more acute importance than in the area of judicial review, where litigation is not simply a matter of determining the private rights of parties but an essential constitutional element of ensuring fair and lawful governance.
The availability of protective costs orders (PCOs) in judicial review proceedings has, since first considered in R v Lord Chancellor ex p Child Poverty Action Group [1999] 1 WLR (CPAG), become an important part of the judiciary’s response to such concerns. As PCOs have become more prevalent, so has the caselaw become more extensive and the governing principles more developed.
The recent case of Morgan & Ors v Hinton Organics (Wessex) Ltd [2009] EWCA 107 Civ provides a useful summary of the current position, although a number of
