Awarding costs: Being held to account

In brief

• A change in the way in which costs are to be awarded and the exercise of the court’s discretion in the award of those costs.
• A specific, and very important, area of costs awards which has recently been engaging greater attention of the courts is the award of a payment on account of costs pursuant to the provisions of rule 44.2(8). CPR 44.2(8).

One of the major abiding features of the Civil Procedure Rules has been the change in the way in which costs are to be awarded and the exercise of the court’s discretion in the award of those costs. The general rule that the unsuccessful party will be ordered to pay the costs of the successful party (CPR 44.2 (2)(a)) has been significantly adjusted to allow the court a much greater discretion in order to give proper weight to issues of conduct, both before and during the proceedings; whether