News in brief 18th June 2015

ABI calls for fixed costs in disease cases
The Association of British Insurers (ABI) has called on the government to extend the fixed costs regime outside the claims portal to disease claims as part of its attack on the growth of noise-induced hearing loss actions.

In a report published on Tuesday, the ABI said the fact disease claims attract guideline hourly rates has led to an “increase in the number of claims from non-specialist law firms who are moving into this area due to the ability to make excessive profits but do not have the necessary skills and knowledge to process these claims efficiently”.

It said the fixed costs should be set at a level “which reflects the steps required by a claimant solicitor to present and run a successful claim. This would ensure that costs are contained and are proportionate, and would introduce efficiencies into the system while removing the additional costs involved in negotiating costs at the end of a claim”.

The ABI also called for a change to the pre-action protocol to enable multi-defendant disease claims to be settled through the portal and for the government to consider extending MedCo to cover claims for noise-induced hearing loss.

Davies appointed as director
RMR Legal, the trading name of RP Costs Consultants, has appointed Costs Lawyer Steve Davies as a director after two years with the company. He previously led costs drafting teams at Calculus Legal Costs and Evolution Costs. The appointment follows the recruitment of Trainee Costs Lawyers David Vella and John Hilton to the Manchester based team as the company continues to expand its capacity and presence in the multi-track commercial, clinical negligence and catastrophic injury markets.

Costs Lawyer represents SFO
We reported last week on the case of Evans v SFO, in which a High Court judge set £480 as the “top end” rate for QCs handling criminal work and £240 for juniors. We are pleased to add that Lisa Arbon Donovan, a Costs Lawyer and director of London costs firm Knapp Richardson, acted for the Serious Fraud Office alongside Richard Christie QC.

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Costs News
Published date
19 Aug 2016

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