Costs Orders Post Jackson Reforms
You know that Qualified One Way Costs rule thingymajig? The one that says, don’t worry claimant, you won’t now have to pay costs if you lose? Well it’s rubbish. We are now receiving costs orders all over the place on claims which should be subject to QOCS protection. Why? Well the courts appear to be easily persuaded that there are exceptional circumstances or that applications have involved hours upon hours of work by the defendant solicitors. Our policies are paying out costs quite regularly even though everyone thought this would be just occuring on the odd occasion. Some of them are pretty hefty bills. We have even had a full costs order from the court despite the Judge being aware that QOCS applies. This …
No ATE = Lower Solicitor Fees
I’m doing a bit of algebra today. It is now accepted practice that solicitors up and down the country are charging clients 25{9c067c25ed205f086ce6001901eb13dfadc688a7aefab9f64e0c55b8c5a55872} or thereabouts of their damages as a success fee if they win their case. Since April 2013, it has also been the norm for defendant insurers to fire off Part 36 offers left, right and centre in order to sidestep Qualified One Way Costs Shifting (QOWCS). Nothing new there then. Well there is. You see, prior to the Jackson reforms, solicitors got their success fees from the defendant and they were of course calculated by reference to costs and risk. Now however, the fees come from the client so it is very relevant how much compensation they get. The more they get, the more money …
Rise in Court Fees to Scupper Access to Justice?
As they say, the Jury is out. The Government has announced that the huge hike in Court Fees, some by as much as 600{9c067c25ed205f086ce6001901eb13dfadc688a7aefab9f64e0c55b8c5a55872}, is due to take affect on Monday 9th March. Cue massive rush to issue everything beforehand of course but then what? Justice minister Shailesh Vara was kind enough to declare in the House of Commons that it was ‘reasonable’ to suggest that the fee increase will not have any major negative effect and that there was ‘little risk’ that they would cut demand for or indeed damage legal services. Well that’s alright then. Phew! Oh hang on a second. Didn’t they do something similar with Employment Tribunal application fees recently? I wonder if those fees had any impact on claims. …
Speed
Happy New Year! OK I am a month late but better late than never eh? Well that’s fine I suppose for my New Year greetings but some things can’t be late, like claim payments on ATE policies. How many times have you completed a claim form and submitted it, only for the ATE insurance provider to ignore it for weeks and then perhaps ask for copies of the file or correspondence. Did you forget to tick that box on the form? Oh dear, never mind, I am sure the Defendant insurer will understand! They don’t though do they. Have you had any default costs orders against you due to your ATE insurer dragging their feet? Hurts doesn’t it? If you are subject to …