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18 October 2007 / Amanda Ashton
Issue: 7293 / Categories: Features
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A cautionary tale

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Defendant costs agents are coming up with ever more inventive challenges to fixed fees, says Amanda Ashton

The introduction of fixed costs for road traffic accidents (RTAs), the revocation of the Conditional Fee Agreement Regulations 2000 (SI 2000/692) and the mediated settlement in Wollard v Fowler [2005] EWHC 90051 (costs), concerning medical agency fees, set the scene for a reduction in prevalence of costs litigation, which has been an unfortunate feature of recent times. Or so it was hoped.

Hostilities continue, however, with the latest challenges to the application of fixed fees under CPR 44.11 centred around a small group of cases in the lower courts, Wetzel v KBC Fidea [2007] EWHC 90079 (costs), Patel v Admiral Insurance (substituted) (4 April 2007 Liverpool CC, DJ Hawthorne) and Kilby v Gawith) (4 April 2007 Birkenhead CC, DJ Peake). These cases include claims for success fees in a road traffic case where the claimants had entered into conditional fee agreements (CFAs) where there was potentially before the event (BTE) insurance cover available.

REALITY CHECK

At first glance

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Secondments, disciplinary procedures and appeal chaos all feature in a quartet of recent rulings. Writing in NLJ this week, Ian Smith, barrister and emeritus professor of employment law at UEA, examines how established principles are being tested in modern disputes
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A High Court ruling involving the Longleat estate has exposed the fault line between modern family building and historic trust drafting. Writing in NLJ this week, Charlotte Coyle, director and family law expert at Freeths, examines Cator v Thynn [2026] EWHC 209 (Ch), where trustees sought approval to modernise trusts that retain pre-1970 definitions of ‘child’, ‘grandchild’ and ‘issue’
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