Athene Legal were recently instructed on behalf of the receiving party defendant to recover costs from an unsuccessful claimant. The case was described as extensive and very acrimonious litigation that had been going on for over seven years – first in California and more recently in the UK. The proceedings concerned a breach of contract claim and a related freezing injunction in the Business and Property Courts of the High Court of Justice.
We assisted our client with the preparation of two bills of costs, which involved liaising with the client’s solicitors – a large US multinational firm. Following service of the bills, a wide range of issues were raised in the paying party’s points of dispute, and the detailed assessment proceedings again became highly contested.
Our Director, Tyler McEwen, represented the receiving party at a 5-day detailed assessment hearing before Costs Judge Rowley in the Senior Courts Costs Office. Preliminary points of dispute were dealt with during the hearing, during which we assisted our client with the preparation of extensive hearing bundles. They evidenced and supported the work undertaken and costs claimed in the bills.
One of the preliminary points involved a hard-fought argument in relation to interest on costs. This was due to detailed assessment proceedings having commenced several years after the 3-month deadline. We were successful in recovering interest on the costs for a period far beyond the 3-month deadline prescribed in CPR 47.7. Following the hearing, we represented our client in settlement discussions, during which it was necessary to consider developments in ongoing litigation between the parties in the US. However, the settlement discussions proved unsuccessful.
A further detailed assessment hearing was heard over 5 days to deal with the individual items claimed in the bill of costs. We were successful in obtaining a more advantageous outcome than the paying party’s offers of settlement. As a result, our client was able to recover a large proportion of their costs of the detailed assessment proceedings.
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