The claimant sues for £40,000 but after the defendant has done a considerable amount of work, the claimant reduces his claim...
The claimant sues for £40,000 but after the defendant has done a considerable amount of work, the claimant reduces his claim to £5,000 and what had been a multi-track claim is reallocated to the small claims track. Can the court under any circumstances award the defendant his costs incurred prior to reallocation? No pre-reallocation orders for costs have been made.
The defendant can seek an order under CPR 44.9(2) (which provides that the costs regime for a particular track is to apply to the period before as well as after allocation except where the court or a Practice Direction says otherwise) that multi-track costs should apply up to reallocation. Ideally, the defendant should do so at the case management conference at which the reallocation has been directed.
If reallocation was directed by an own motion order, he should so within seven days of its service. Failure to act promptly could cause the defendant problems
