header-logo header-logo

Home Login E-newsletter About us
23 October 2014 / Dominic Regan
Issue: 7627 / Categories: Features
printer mail-detail

Strange but true

© Copyright LexisNexis 2026. All Rights Reserved.
backpage_1

Dominic Regan considers the nail that cost a third of a million pounds & other matters

One of the greatest mysteries of the moment is how the new proportionality test, designed by Jackson LJ to ensure that reasonableness of expenditure shall trump reasonableness, is going to work in practice. It is not difficult to extract from the law reports examples of disputes where the numbers are eye-watering.

Nailing it

A nail whacked by an errant workman penetrated a pipe in the dining room at Epsom College. While the damages came to about £21,000, the costs of the claimant, including the success fee (fondly remembered as money from heaven), ran in at £330,000. See Epsom College v Pierse Contracting [2011] EWCA Civ 1449, [2011] All ER (D) 153 (Dec).

An even more modest claim drove Lord Justice Ward to the verge of implosion. In Egan v Motor Services (Bath) Ltd [2007] EWCA Civ 1002, [2008] 1 All ER 1156n, Mr Egan rejected an Audi car which the garage had sold to him. Somehow, a modest

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

Read All
Sponsored by
Carey Olsen—Patrick Ormond

Carey Olsen—Patrick Ormond

Partner joinscorporate and finance practice in British Virgin Islands

Dawson Cornwell—Naomi Angell

Dawson Cornwell—Naomi Angell

Firm strengthens children department with adoption and surrogacy expert

Penningtons Manches Cooper—Graham Green

Penningtons Manches Cooper—Graham Green

Media and technology expert joins employment team as partner in Cambridge

NEWS
Read All
NLJ this week: Divorce ‘nuclear weapon’ freezes assets but entangles outsiders
Freezing orders in divorce proceedings can unexpectedly ensnare third parties and disrupt businesses. In NLJ this week, Lucy James of Trowers & Hamlins explains how these orders—dubbed a ‘nuclear weapon’—preserve assets but can extend far beyond spouses to companies and business partners 
NLJ this week: What counts as ‘rent’? Court says labour alone won’t do
A Court of Appeal ruling has clarified that ‘rent’ must be monetary—excluding tenants paid in labour from statutory protection. In this week's NLJ, James Naylor explains Garraway v Phillips, where a tenant worked two days a week instead of paying rent
Your magistrates’ court needs you!
Thousands more magistrates are to be recruited, under a major shake-up to speed up and expand the hiring process
NLJ this week: Freed but failed—justice system leaves the innocent empty-handed
Three men wrongly imprisoned for a combined 77 years have been released—yet received ‘not a penny’ in compensation, exposing deep flaws in the justice system. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Jon Robins reports on Justin Plummer, Oliver Campbell and Peter Sullivan, whose convictions collapsed amid discredited forensics, ‘oppressive’ police interviews and unreliable ‘cell confessions’
NLJ this week: Clarity on whistleblowing, settlements and tribunal limits
A quiet month for employment cases still delivers key legal clarifications. In his latest Employment Law Brief for NLJ, Ian Smith reports that whistleblowing protection remains intact even where disclosures are partly self-serving, provided the worker reasonably believes they serve the ‘public interest’ 
Copyright © 2026 LexisNexis
back-to-top-scroll