I have always found John M Hayes to be reliable, efficient and accurate.
Ryan Reed, Director, H.F.T. Gough & Co Ltd
With the summer holiday season just around the corner and as experts in travel litigation cases, you will be preparing for your busy season. And like the weather, nothing is predictable - we never know what the next instruction may bring.
At John M Hayes we have been preparing travel litigation bills of costs, both international and national for nearly twenty years. From the single claimant having a road traffic accident abroad to claims involving several hundred individuals having contracted illnesses either on cruise liners or from hotels run by large agencies and tour operators.
Never easy to prepare, with generic costs having to be apportioned over many groups of individuals, the preparation of travel litigation bills of costs, particularly since the advent of costs budgeting, has become a whole lot more complex not lest where individual claimant bills have to be phased along with the generic bill in order that all can be brought together and ultimately compared with the last agreed budget in Form Q format.
Presentational difficulties abound and the introduction of the latest “improved” bill of costs (in October 2017) does nothing in our view to assist in the process of agreeing costs or more importantly determination at detailed assessment.
It is no longer enough to be competent in preparing single claimant bills of costs however large. Costs draftsmen or costs lawyers must be able to present costs involving multi person international travel litigation claims. These are complex and often multi layered too, involving several groups, each having taken different cruises but all having traveled on the same vessel.
We often find that Paying Parties in their points of dispute still insist on raising objection when more than one fee earner is involved in a multi claimant case. The Paying Party apparently unaware of the complexities of putting together such a claim and always keen to reject the team approach to litigation when applied.
Take the case of TUI UK Ltd v Tickell & Others [2016] EWHC 2741 (QB) John M Hayes prepared the 205 individual claims, with awards of between £500 and £1500, and the generic bill of costs. The claim was issued pre 1 April 2013. The majority of the work had been undertaken by paralegals who in turn were organised by more senior fee earners and partners from time to time. This was an appeal against a lengthy eight day detailed assessment carried out by Master Howarth, in which he ruled that the £1.8million costs claimed was disproportionate and reduced the bills down to a little short of £1million. Seemingly dissatisfied with this decision, amongst other grounds brought by the paying party was the first that “the Master was wrong to allow 144 hours of inter-fee earner discussions, overall, on the individual bills. These were wrongly allowed because they did not relate to any individual case. Times had already been allowed in the generic bill. The discussions were unnecessary and probably did not even occur. The Master was wrong not to check the attendance notes about those discussions.”
From our point of view paragraph 27 of the High Court judgment is very relevant in that the Master had been invited to deal with the issue on a broad brush basis. “He [the Master] had not seen the detailed attendance notes; but what was being discussed was perfectly clear from the bills (our emphasis). In dismissing this ground and indeed all of the other grounds as well, the Master said that: “It was unrealistic to say there should have been no inter-fee earner discussions. Quite clearly there had to be discussions between the relevant fee earners who were doing different jobs in the litigation.” He went on “Where possible the work had been pushed down to the lowest grade of fee earner.”
As experienced costs lawyers and draftsmen we have always found it necessary to provide full and adequate descriptions of work done. This is particularly so where attendances are likely to be the focus of dispute amongst paying parties. As such we take immense pride in the bills of costs that we prepare having regard to the above and the numerous other cases in which we have been involved. By pride we simply mean John M Hayes being instrumental in shaping costs claims in the world of international travel in recent years.
The word experienced cannot be over emphasised in these cases. Where individual settlements are modest and costs substantial, you as fee earners will want to be assured that every effort will be made to support your own costs claim with reduced travel time and increased opportunities to get there quicker.
To find out how we can help you with both, contact our costs travel team on 0121 643 0001 or email: travelexpert@johnmhayes.co.uk
Philip Morris is Regional Manager for the Midlands. Alongside managing a busy regional hub, Philip maintains a varied caseload including Litigant in Person work, international travel litigation claims and probate bills. Philip is an experienced advocate who undertakes assessment hearings in the region for other offices at Birmingham, Chesterfield and Norwich. Contact Philip direct on 0121 643 0001 or e-mail: philip.morris@johnmhayes.co.uk
Thursday 8th June 2017