The Court of Appeal has dismissed Monica Leech’s appeal over a High Court decision refusing to review an alleged error in the assessment of her solicitor-client costs.
The appeal concerned costs claimed by McCann Fitzgerald, which had acted for Leech in defamation proceedings against Independent Newspapers Ireland Ltd. The newspaper company was not a party to the appeal. The dispute was between Leech and her former solicitors.
Leech argued that the Taxing Master used €253,755 as the starting figure in one calculation, despite having earlier assessed the professional fees at €238,813. She said the difference led to an allowed instructions fee of €165,000, which she contended should have been lower. The Court of Appeal described the alleged error as disputed and said it was not clear that the final fee was the product of a simple arithmetic mistake.
The Taxing Master issued his initial ruling in January 2018. Leech later made five written objections, but did not include the calculation point. The Taxing Master dismissed those objections in January 2019. Leech then sought a High Court review, raising the calculation issue among her grounds. The High Court held that she could not raise a ground that had not first been put to the Taxing Master in the objections process. It also rejected the point on its merits.
The Court of Appeal agreed that the High Court review was confined to matters raised before the Taxing Master. It said the statutory review power and the procedural rules had to be read together. The court also noted that Leech’s review notice challenged the objections ruling, while the alleged calculation error appeared in the initial ruling. It was not persuaded that the discrepancy was a clear mechanical error; the issue would have required clarification from the Taxing Master during the objections stage.
The court rejected Leech’s argument that her self-represented status entitled her to more leeway. It also declined to consider an argument based on Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which had not been advanced in the High Court.
The appeal was dismissed. The court’s provisional view was that the former solicitors were entitled to the appeal costs. Leech was given 14 days to apply for a brief hearing on costs; absent such an application, an order in the proposed terms would be made.