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Fixed Costs Are
Here at Last
The Civil Procedure Rules
As of 6 October 2003, any cases involving road traffic
accidents having the value of £10000 or less that settle
without issue of proceedings will be subject to fixed
fees. These fees are set out in part 45.7 to part 45.14
of the 1998 Civil Procedure Rules (CPR).
The scheme will apply to all accidents that occur on or
after 6 October 2003 (25A)PD.
The scheme provides a basic payment and a mark-up graded
up to £10000.
|
Basic
payment |
£800.00 |
|
£0 - £5000 |
20% |
|
£5000 -
£10000 |
15% |
|
For example, a claim settled for £6500 will enable the
claimant to recover fixed fees as follows.
|
Basic
payment |
£800.00 |
|
20% of £5000 |
£1000.00 |
|
15% of £1500 |
£225.00 |
|
Total |
£2025.00 |
|
The rules also provide for a mark-up for claimants
living in London and whose claims are handled by a
London solicitor. London claimants will be entitled to a
mark-up of 12.5%.
Thus a London claimant settling a claim for £6500 will
recover the following.
|
Fixed fees
as above |
£2025.00 |
|
12.5% of
£2025 |
£253.13 |
|
Total |
£2278.13 |
|
Disbursements
The rules provide that the claimant will be entitled to
recover disbursements in addition to the fixed fees.
Can the claimant contract out of the fixed fee
regime?
A claimant wishing to recover an amount greater than the
fixed figure can apply to the court for costs to be
assessed.
The claimant will have to show that the case is
exceptional and at the same time will have to give an
indication of the amount of costs they seek to recover.
If defendant or insurer wishes to challenge the
assessment process, they must specify in the
acknowledgement of service.
The court will then determine the issue. If it agrees
with the claimant it will assess the costs or make an
order for costs. If it considers the claim
inappropriate, fixed costs will be recoverable instead.
Penalties for going through this process
If the costs are assessed as 20% greater than the figure
prescribed, the defendant or insurer will have to pay
the cost of the assessment.
If the costs assessed are less than 20% greater than the
fixed costs, the defendant or insurer can pay the lower
of the two figures, i.e. assessed costs or fixed costs,
and the claimant will have to bear the cost of the
assessment.
While this regime does not apply to the Trenwick cases
we hope that the above figures will be of assistance to
you. These formulas can be used when dealing with a
claimant’s claim for costs on non RTA matters as an
indicator of what would be reasonable recoverable costs.
These are after all figures that were recommended and
approved by Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL). |
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