Christopher Richards
PSL Principal Associate
Article
At the end of July 2017, Lord Justice Jackson presented a report recommending, among other things, the expansion of fixed recoverable costs in the fast track; the introduction of a new streamlined intermediate track for claims worth £25,000 - £100,000, and a pilot scheme for capped costs in certain business and property cases worth £100,000 - £250,000.
Yes. In 2010, Lord Justice Jackson presented his Review of Civil Litigation Costs: Final Report. He concluded that the then-current system of the winning party adding up its costs at the end of proceedings and seeking to recover what it could from the losing party was a recipe for runaway costs, and that the only way to control costs was to do so in advance. His report contained recommendations for widespread reforms to promote access to justice at proportionate cost.
Following consultation, a number of Jackson LJ's recommendations were implemented starting from April 2013. These are known as the Jackson reforms. They included:
This latest report picks up where the last left off. It is a supplemental report looking specifically at extending the use of FRCs to other cases. FRCs, says Jackson, allow parties to know at the outset what costs they will recover if they succeed, and what costs they will need to pay if they lose - and to decide whether to pursue a case accordingly.
Jackson LJ has made a number of recommendations to further control costs and to streamline the litigation process. In addition to recommending that FRCs now be extended to all cases in the fast track (i.e. all claims worth £10,000 - £25,000), he has also made the following recommendations.
These proposals recognise that the cost of litigating lower value claims in the multi-track can be disproportionate to case value. The introduction of an intermediate track and separate procedure for what are currently lower value multi-track cases will limit the amount of work to be done by lawyers, and remove the need to budget these cases on an individual basis. The hope is that FRCs will make costs clear, transparent and predictable, and allow parties to determine at the outset whether a matter is worth pursuing. There had been discussion of FRCs being extended to cases worth up to £250,000. The report does not recommend that at this stage, but proposes that matters be reviewed in four years (in the same way that this report reviews the impact of the 2013 reforms) with a view to extending FRCs to cases worth more than £100,000 at that stage.
Jackson LJ's latest recommendations are just that - they are now subject to review by the Lord Chancellor, Master of the Rolls and government. Furthermore, the government has indicated that it intends to consult on implementation. It seems likely though that, having been recommended in two subsequent reports, FRCs will now be extended to higher value claims, leading to certainty about recoverable costs over a wider range of cases, and streamlining the litigation process accordingly.
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