Fixed advocacy fees in english civil litigation

Abstract

When settlement has been reached between the parties of a case in certain low value personal injury disputes but costs to be paid have not been agreed, the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) provide a fixed-costs scheme under Part 45 to regulate the recoverability of those costs. The imprecise terminology in Part 45.29C table 6B, however, has led to some uncertainty about how costs should be allocated for a settlement that occurs on the day of trial but prior to its actual commencement. This article analyses the judicial precedent recently set by the High Court in Mendes v Hochtief (UK) Construction Ltd1 on this subject.