The Supreme Court Costs Office

No.18 of 2006

Knight v Beyond Properties Pty Ltd [2006] EWHC 1242 (Ch)

26 May 2006

Mann J

The defendants applied for a costs capping order against the claimant who instructed lawyers under a CFA without ATE insurance. The Judge carried out a full review of the body of authorities which now exist in costs capping cases (paragraphs 4 to 15). He considered that a costs capping order would be appropriate only if the risks were such as could not be dealt with by the normal means of case management and post trial detailed assessment. He concluded (paragraph 24):

“… The two specific risk areas that have been identified do seem to me to be matters that are likely to be satisfactorily dealt with by the review that would be conducted by the Costs Judge on an after-trial costs assessment … even if I assume (paragraph 25) that those two identified areas demonstrate a propensity for excessive expenditure, I am not persuaded that other excessive expenditure (if any) cannot be adequately dealt with by detailed costs assessments in due course…”

No order for costs capping made on the application.