The Supreme Court Costs Office

No.14 of 2005

 KU v Liverpool City Council

 27 April 2005

 Court of Appeal (Brooke, Rix and Dyson LJJ)

The Court of Appeal explained the powers of the court in relation to success fees at paragraph 47.

The Court of Appeal held that the courts had no power to impose a differential success fee in a CFA case, either under CPD 11.8(2) or at all (paragraph 49).

They were however able to reduce the success fee, which had been upheld by the Circuit Judge, by allowing the paying party to challenge out of time the level of that success fee, provided the Respondents submitted to a costs cap.

The Practice Direction will shortly be amended to remove the offending part.