Civil Litigation For Businesses

The costs of litigation vary depending on the complexity of the matter and the amount of disclosure involved, but can include:

• Solicitor and Barrister fees
• Court fees
• Expert opinion and reports
• Other disbursements (defined as costs that cannot and do not include any element of profit for that party or for the solicitor acting for them)
• Costs associated with seeking permission to apply for Judicial Review

Appealing a decision can, of course, further add to the costs of litigation; however, costs at the Court of Appeal tend to be lower than the High Court, as a bulk of the work has already been done. But if permission to appeal is not granted by the High Court and must be sought, appeal costs can ratchet upwards.

Part 36 Offers refer to case settlement offers made pursuant to Part 36 of the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR).  Lord Justice Moore-Bick described Part 36 offers in Gibbon v Manchester City Council [2010] EWCA Civ 726, [2011] 2 All ER 258 as:

“to encourage settlement and to enable those who make sensible offers to protect themselves against liability for the costs incurred in the continuation of proceedings to no ultimate advantage.”

Part 36 Offers can be entered into at any time during the claim proceedings, including throughout the trial. They are usually related to monetary claims but can be used in other scenarios, such as dealing with declaratory actions.

Part 36 Offers must state a ‘relevant period’ in which it can be accepted. The ‘relevant period cannot be less than 21 days. If the Part 36 Offer is accepted within the ‘relevant period’, the Claimant can recover most costs (legal fees and expenses relating to the case, such as expert fees) up until the acceptance date. If the offer is accepted after the ‘relevant period’ has expired, the Court can decide on liability for costs if the parties cannot reach an agreement between themselves.

It is unlikely as most civil litigation cases are resolved outside of Court. Of course, we are ready to litigate; however, this is never our first response. We start by listening – understanding how your dispute came to be and do everything possible to settle the argument through Alternative Dispute Resolution methods such as negotiation, mediation, adjudication (in relation to construction disputes), or arbitration.

Our Civil Litigation Solicitors do not fall back on off the shelf solutions, our approach is always value-based. We constantly balance the value of the result you could achieve with the costs of accomplishing such an outcome and advise you on whether it is in your best interests to pursue a particular course of action.

Litigation funding is where a third party, who has no connection to the litigation, agrees to fund all or part of it in return if the party they are funding is successful.

The advantages of litigation funding include:

• The risks associated with litigation are shared.
• For companies with a limited legal budget, multiple claims can be funded at the same time.
• The cost of litigation can be removed from the company balance sheet and the impact on cashflow is minimised.
• Often litigation funders provide operating capital through facilities using the contingent proceeds of litigation as security for the facility.

It used to be the case that litigation funders would only fund multi-million-pound cases. This no longer applies; most funders are looking for a mixture of larger and smaller claims. Doing so spreads the risk and prevents the funder from losing their entire investment in one case.