Costs—Conditional fee agreement—Adjudication

Queen’s Bench Division, Technology and Construction Court (TCC), Akenhead J, 17 Jan 2011

The Technology and Construction Court has considered the use of conditional fee arrangements (CFA) and after the event insurance (ATE) in adjudication enforcement cases.

Samuel Townend (instructed by CJ Hough & Co) for the claimant. Camille Slow (instructed by Quercus Law) for the defendant.

Following an adjudication on 4 November 2009, the claimant issued proceedings for recovery of the award. The claimant entered into a CFA with its solicitors. The success fee was 100% of the solicitors’ basic charges. Notification of the CFA was not given to the defendant until 19 November. On 16 November, the claimant entered into an ATE insurance policy. The claimant was successful in recovering the award and it was common ground that the claimant was entitled to its cost on a standard basis. Before the court, however, an issue arose as to whether the claimant was entitled to the costs of the