Although the expansion of fixed costs has now been deferred to October 2023 (possibly), for many years the existing scheme of fixed costs for cases commenced in the MOJ Portal, or which should have been commenced in the MOJ Portal, or which began in the MOJ Portal but dropped out of it, has been generating disputes.
In a recent case I dealt with on appeal in Liverpool, HHJ Howells grappled with the court’s jurisdiction to limit a claimant’s claim for costs, the interplay between parts 44 and 45 CPR, and conduct which would justify restricting a claimant to MOJ Portal costs.
I was instructed by Ilze Kristapa of Messrs Horwich Farrelly.
A copy of the judgment handed down on 23rd November 2022 is here: Allen v TY admiral.final
Sadly pusillanimous of the judge not to record why the case was reheard, the appeal against the DJ having in that respect been allowed by consent. I believe that it related to the sort of hectoring and unjudicial conduct at first instance that you rarely see these days, which really should have been publicly recorded and held to account by the appellate court. Advocates have a duty to be fearless. So do judges.