header-logo header-logo

22 January 2015 / Kerry Underwood
Categories: Opinion , Procedure & practice , Costs , Budgeting
printer mail-detail

Coventry: a costs calamity in waiting?

A phoney war or a £15bn headache for the government? Kerry Underwood counts down to the Coventry v Lawrence finale

The legal New Year feels like 1939, waiting for an inevitable war anticipating the Supreme Court hearing of Coventry v Lawrence, listed for 9, 10 and the morning of 12 February 2015, to be heard by Lord Neuberger, Lady Hale, Lord Mance, Lord Clarke, Lord Dyson, Lord Sumption, and Lord Carnwath. It may turn out to be a phoney war with the Supreme Court maintaining the status quo and upholding the right of the UK Parliament to govern the costs regime in the UK courts. Or it may not.

Background

The case is about whether the system of recoverability of additional liabilities, that is success fees and after-the-event (ATE) insurance premiums, in place from April 2000 to April 2013, breaches the European Convention on Human Rights, which forms part of our domestic law due to the Human Rights Act 1998.

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

DWF—David Abbott & Claire Keat

DWF—David Abbott & Claire Keat

Senior appointments in insurance services and commercial services announced

Clyde & Co—Nick Roberts

Clyde & Co—Nick Roberts

Aviation disputes practice strengthened by London partner hire

Ellisons—Marion Knocker

Ellisons—Marion Knocker

Residential property lawyer promoted to partnership

NEWS
he abolition of assured shorthold tenancies and section 21 evictions marks the beginning of a ‘brave new world’ for England’s rental sector, writes Daniel Bacon of Seddons GSC
Stephen Gold’s latest Civil Way column rounds up a flurry of procedural and regulatory changes reshaping housing, alternative dispute resolution (ADR) and personal injury litigation
Patients are being systematically failed by an NHS complaints regime that is opaque, poorly enforced and often stacked against them, argues Charles Davey of The Barrister Group
A wealthy Russian divorce battle has produced a sharp warning about trying to challenge foreign nuptial agreements in the wrong English court. Writing in NLJ this week, Vanessa Friend and Robert Jackson of Hodge Jones & Allen examine Timokhin v Timokhina, where the High Court enforced Russian judgments arising from a prenuptial agreement despite arguments based on the landmark Radmacher decision
An obscure Victorian tort may be heading for an unexpected revival after a significant Privy Council ruling that could reshape liability for dangerous escapes, according to Richard Buckley, barrister and emeritus professor of law at the University of Reading
back-to-top-scroll