The QOCs changes
Two months on: a barrister's view
Henry King is a barrister from 12 King's Bench.
In the event, 6 April 2023 came and went. The full
impact of the changes will be played out in years rather
than months.
At first blush, the rule change presents a great difficulty
for those representing claimants. This is particularly so
given the forthcoming changes whereby fixed recoverable
costs will apply to most civil claims valued at less than
£100,000 in October 2023.
However, if one takes a step back, a different perspective
is that it merely changes the tactics of the case along
the way.
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The impact on costs lawyers
Dominic Woodhouse is at Partners in Costs and
has specialised in costs law since 2002. He takes
a keen interest in all things costs budgeting
and developments in the Civil Procedure Rules
relevant to costs.
Change has long been brewing in relation to the Qualified
One-Way Costs Shifting (QOCS) regime. The Court of Appeal's
decision in Cartwright v Venduct Engineering Ltd [2018]
EWCA Civ 1654 fomented further discontent with the
regime on the part of defendants, confirming that the ability
to enforce orders for costs against a claimant without
the permission of the Court under CPR 44.14 only applied
where an Order for damages had been made by the court,
and did not include situations where proceedings had been
settled on the basis of a CPR 36 offer or where the provision
for damages was made in the schedule to a Tomlin Order
rather than in the Order itself.
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