The Court handed down a 3-2 majority in favour of the firm, in Bott & Co Solicitors v Ryanair DAC [2022] UKSC 8.
Bott & Co Solicitors handles flight delay compensation claims on a ‘no win no fee’ basis, and would send a letter before action to the relevant airline and ask for payment to be made to the firm’s client account. If paid, the firm would check the payment, deduct its fee and pay the rest to the client. If the airline ignored or disputed the claim, the firm would consider issuing proceedings.
In February 2016, however, Ryanair stopped this practice and instead began dealing directly with the clients and paying compensation directly to them. Bott & Co issued proceedings against the airline, one of the issues being whether the firm had an equitable lien over its fees.
The case concerned the limits to the principle under which a solicitor can ask the court to grant an equitable lien in order to protect his entitlement to fees as against his client.
It was dismissed by the High Court and Court of Appeal before succeeding at the Supreme Court with the majority judges, Lord Burrows, Lady Arden and Lord Briggs giving three separate judgments and Lord Leggatt and Lady Rose jointly dissenting.
NLJ columnist Dominic Regan said: “Lord Hope when in the court aspired to the delivery of one judgment wherever possible.
‘Here, hilariously we see four judgments from a five-member bench. Lord Briggs nailed it when he identified the need for legal advice in low value cases. The increase in the personal injury small claims limit next month is a timely reminder of how challenging it is to secure a just outcome when costs are miserable or non- existent.’
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