Georgina Squire assesses the courts’ evolving approach to the Jackson reforms, Mitchell, Denton & sanctions
- Longevity, prices and earnings inflation all compound the investment risk that claimants face under the MoJ’s planned change to setting the discount rate.
Practitioners will remember (vividly) the panic created following the decision of Master McCloud in the matter of Andrew Mitchell MP v Express Group Newspapers [2013] EWHC 2355 (QB). In that case, the claimant’s solicitors failed to file their costs budget on time and the claimant’s recoverable costs were limited to the court fees. This led to a series of decisions imposing severe sanctions on parties who failed to comply with court orders, however fine the margin.
While the Master’s reasoning in Mitchell could not be faulted, it is unlikely that she intended to create the general culture of fear within the legal profession that followed, or the far-reaching effect of her decision. Fortunately, the Court of Appeal softened the blow of Mitchell when it decided Denton and others v TH
