Costs Law Brief

In Myatt and others v National Coal Board [2007] EWCA Civ 307, [2007] ALL ER (D) 301 (Mar) the Court of Appeal dealt with the issue of who should pay the costs of an appeal concerning the enforceability of the claimants’ conditional fee agreements (CFAs). The claimants had lost that appeal (see Myatt and others v National Coal Board [2006] EWCA Civ 1017) and the issue was who should pay the defendants’ costs: should the costs be paid by the claimants themselves, or by their solicitors?

The claimants had no insurance in respect of the appeal because their after the event (ATE) insurance was itself conditional upon their conditional fee agreements being enforceable. Had this not been the case, the defendant would have been content with an order against the claimants themselves, but in view of the fact that the claimants were uninsured, the defendant had no option but