Costs capping orders—a high threshold

• Covers PGI Group Limited, a claim brought by 31 Malawian women against a UK-owned tea and macadamia company for rape, sexual assault, harassment and discrimination.
• Looks at the grounds for appeal, and high threshold for costs capping orders.

The Costs Capping Order regime (CCO) was introduced as part of Sir Rupert Jackson’s reforms on civil litigation costs with the aim of controlling the amount of future costs which a party may recover by way of a court order. As Coulson LJ noted in PGI Group Limited v Margret Thomas and others [2022] EWCA Civ 233, CCOs are rarely sought or made, and will only be made ‘in exceptional circumstances’ (see CPR PD3F). This article considers the Court of Appeal’s decision in PGI Group Limited, in which Coulson LJ refused permission to appeal the first instance decision of Mr Justice Cavanagh who refused the applicant’s application for a CCO