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13 September 2017 / Francis Kendall
Issue: 7761 / Categories: Features , Costs
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Costs budgeting: advantage Sir Cliff?

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Master Marsh has made two important decisions on the approach to budgeting for the price of one, says Francis Kendall

  • Removal of the cap on the costs of budgeting & rejection of the request to comment on Sir Cliff’s incurred costs.

Just before the summer exodus, Chief Master Marsh further solidified the position of costs budgeting in litigation with two common-sense decisions in Sir Cliff Richard’s case against the BBC and South Yorkshire Police over coverage of a police raid on his home (Sir Cliff Richard OBE v The British Broadcasting Corporation and Another [2017] EWHC 1666 (Ch)).

First, Master Marsh applied the little (if ever) used provision to remove the cap on the costs of budgeting and second, he took an eminently sensible approach to the seeking of ‘comments’ on the significant incurred costs included within the, not insignificant, budget of the famous crooner.

Budgeting

In order to come to the first decision, Master Marsh needed to satisfy himself that that

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