Law digests: 7 July 2023

Costs

Hadley (a protected party by his litigation friend) v Przybylo [2023] EWHC 1392 (KB), [2023] All ER (D) 91 (Jun)

The King’s Bench Division ruled on certain issues relating to the claimant’s personal injury claim, concerning the principles of costs budgeting under the CPR. The court had previously instructed the parties to engage in alternative dispute resolution to resolve issues in the budget. The claimant had contended that attendance by a fee earner at case management meetings was reasonably necessary to progress the litigation since they had assisted in maintaining the Schedule of Loss as the claim had proceeded. The defendant had contended that, as a matter of principle, such attendance charges ought to be ruled as inadmissible in a budget, since they did not fall within the categories of matter to be included in the Issues and Statements of Case phase. The court held, among other things, that having solicitors attend rehabilitation case management meetings and meetings with deputies did not fall within the budget because such meetings were not ‘progressive’