The High Court has ordered the defendants in a personal injury action to pay €45,000 on account of the plaintiff’s costs within 28 days. The payment is interim: the final costs remain subject to taxation, and the court did not set the fee ultimately payable to the plaintiff’s legal advisers.
The judgment, delivered by Mr Justice Barr on 28 July 2017, concerned an application under Practice Direction HC71. The plaintiff’s solicitor sought a payment while the costs were being assessed by the Taxing Master.
The plaintiff, Kacper Antecki, was involved in a road traffic accident on 20 September 2007. He issued a personal injury summons against the Motor Insurers Bureau of Ireland, Andrei Draganuta and Robert Delaney in December 2010. The action was settled when it came into the hearing list on 7 June 2016. Under the settlement, the plaintiff was to receive €175,000 in compensation and his legal costs, including reserved and discovery costs, with costs to be taxed if the parties could not agree them.
The plaintiff’s solicitor said she provided a schedule of vouched disbursements in July 2016 and submitted a bill of costs in April 2017. A taxation hearing listed for 7 July 2017 was adjourned to 18 October after the Taxing Master identified a problem with the bill. The solicitor said she expected the process to delay payment until around December 2018.
The defendants argued that taxation was proceeding with reasonable expedition and that the bill’s adjournment resulted from deficiencies in it, not delay in the process. They also disputed the costs claimed. Their legal costs accountant estimated the professional fee might tax at €35,000 to €40,000 plus VAT. The defendants had already agreed and paid counsel’s fees.
Justice Barr held that an applicant did not have to prove long delays in taxation to seek an interim payment where the defendant had agreed or been found liable for costs. He also accepted that the solicitor was likely to wait a further 18 months for payment. He ordered €45,000, taking account of the nature and complexity of the case and counsel’s fees, but deliberately gave no calculation of the appropriate instruction fee. The amount ultimately payable remains for the taxation process to determine.