Radical plans to shake up costs of civil cases

The biggest ever shake-up to the costs of taking cases through the civil courts is contained in proposals in a report by one of the most senior judges in England and Wales.

The civil courts deal with personal injury claims, disputes over goods and services, and landlord and tenant actions, among others. Lord Justice Jackson's Review of Civil Litigation Costs is a result of a recognition that it is simply too expensive for many people and small companies to bring or defend civil cases.

His proposals are radical. He has looked at the factors forcing costs up in civil actions, and in particular he has focussed on Conditional Fee Agreements (CFAs), more commonly known as "no win, no fee" agreements. They have proved controversial in personal injury and defamation and privacy cases where the winning party can recover, in addition to damages, a hefty lawyer's "success" fee and "After the Event" (ATE) insurance premiums taken out by the claimant to protect against the costs of losing.

He proposes that success fees and ATE insurance premiums should cease to be recoverable from unsuccessful opponents in civil litigation. This will have particular significance for personal injury claims where no win no fee agreements are most common.

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source: BBC