Athene Legal were instructed on behalf of four siblings, who were ordered to pay costs in High Court proceedings concerning a dispute over a will. At the time of receiving instructions, the receiving party had obtained a default costs certificate against our clients in the sum of £241,000.
Upon reviewing the bill of costs and supporting documentation, it was noted that the bill of costs was defective in several ways. The most significant issue was that the bill of costs did not comply with CPR 47 PD 5.2(f) and 5.8(8). Despite a costs management order being in place, the receiving party’s bill of costs did not distinguish between the costs claimed for each budget phase or between the incurred and estimated costs.
An application was promptly made to set aside the default costs certificate, which was accompanied by points of dispute and witness evidence. Tyler McEwen of Athene Legal represented the paying parties at the hearing of the application – at which the default costs certificate was set aside, and our clients were awarded their costs.
Once the receiving party re-served their bill of costs, we assisted the paying parties with the preparation of amended points of dispute. As is often our strategy, we also undertook our own assessment of the bill of costs and advised our clients on what amount we considered to be reasonable. We advised our clients to make a Part 36 offer.
A 3-day detailed assessment hearing took place before Costs Judge Nagalingam in the Senior Courts Costs Office. Tyler McEwen represented the paying parties once again. The paying parties were successful in reducing the bill of costs to £131,000, which was less than the paying parties’ Part 36 offer. Accordingly, our clients were awarded their costs of assessment, and they were able to recover our fees from their opponent.
From being faced with a judgment for £231,000, we managed to set the judgment aside and reduce our clients’ costs liability to £131,000 – all the while recovering our fees from our clients’ opponent.
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