A libel trial brought by footballer Danny Simpson for an alleged infidelity landed his lawyers with a troublesome dispute over costs.
Simpson, a defender for Leicester City, won his libel case against the publishers of the Daily Mirror, in Simpson v MGN Ltd [2015] EWHC 126 (QB). However, his legal team has not fared quite so well on costs.
Simpson’s team applied for more than £24,000 costs. However, the defendant submitted that no costs should be awarded because Simpson's costs budget did not include any sum in respect of the costs of the applications, and Simpson failed to serve a costs schedule on the defendant.
The judge ruled against MGN’s first point and declined to disallow costs entirely on the second point. Instead, he ruled that Simpson should get 90% of the costs sought minus a deduction to reflect the fact the claimant’s failures caused the defendant to incur additional costs. He awarded costs of £10,500.
Jon Lord, council member of the Association of Costs Lawyers, says: “This ruling shows how some of the kinks in the budgeting process still need to be smoothed out; otherwise they risk just introducing an unnecessary layer of costs into litigation.
“In keeping with the football theme of the case, the only goal scored was an own goal by Mr Simpson in failing to serve his team sheets (budget and statement of costs) on the opposition before the game. The penalty for that was sensibly proportionate in the form of the additional cost caused by his failure.”
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