(b) his assessment of the amount of the percentage increase in relation to those proceedings, having regard to the risk assessment; and
Is that an end to the story? Not quite. The ever ingenious Gibbs Wyatt Stone recently acted for the Defendant in an EL claim (Middleton v Mainland Market Deliveries Ltd (
Costs Practice Direction 32.5(1)(b) requires a receiving party to serve with his Bill:
However it was argued for the Defendant that this document did not properly comply with the requirements of 5(1)(c). That section required “the reasons, by reference to the risk assessment [emphasis added], for setting the percentage increase at that level”. Because the solicitors had simply adopted the fixed success fees, they had not undertaken the “risk assessment” required by 5(1)(a). Regulation 5 is a 3-stage process. To comply with 5(1)(c) requires the earlier steps to have also been undertaken. As such, it was argued there was a breach of CPD 32.5(1)(b) and that, by virtue of CPR 44.3B(1)(d)(i), the success fee was therefore not recoverable.
This was a different argument to the one run in Gower Chemicals. That argument was based on there being a breach of the CCFA Regulations which rendered the whole retainer invalid and all costs being irrecoverable. The argument advanced in this case was not that there was a breach of the Regulations, but that there was a breach of the detailed assessment disclosure requirements and the success fee alone was irrecoverable.
The judge accepted the Defendant’s submissions and disallowed the success fee.
If this decision were to be followed by other judges, a very large number of other cases would potentially be affected. A large number of “risk assessments” prepared in CCFA cases do not strictly follow the 3-stage process. Interestingly, there is a possible argument that the requirement to comply would have existed even if this was a fixed success fee case. The CCFA in place pre-dated the revocation of the Regulations (as most still do). There is nothing in CPD 32.5(1)(b) that disapplies the rule in fixed success fee cases. Although Lamont v Burton [2007] EWCA Civ 429 and Kilby v Gawith EWCA Civ 812 are authority for the proposition that the courts have no discretion as to whether to allow fixed success fees, does this extend as far as overriding the disclosure or notification requirements? If a party fails to comply with CPD 19.4(1), for example, surely they can’t recover the success fee notwithstanding that it is a fixed fee case. Does this also apply to CPD 32.5(1)(b) in its current form?
In the same case, Counsel had entered into his CFA after liability had been admitted. The CFA did not put Counsel at risk in relation to Part 36 offers (despite his risk assessment being prepared on the mistaken basis that it did). Nevertheless, the fixed success fee figures had also been applied producing a claim for 100% as the matter proceeded to trial. The judge accepted that the success fee should be reduced to the 5% figure suggested in paragraph paragraph 24 of C v W [2008] EWCA Civ 1459.
Who says that legal costs isn’t exciting?