Description
An appeal against the hourly rate allowed to a personal injury claimant's solicitors for the costs of the action. The issue was whether it was reasonable for the claimant to instruct central London solicitors when the case was closely tied to the south west of England.
Held: The test is whether it was objectively reasonable, at the time the decision was made, for a party to instruct particular solicitors in the context of the particular circumstances. Where the decision was reasonable, hourly rates are assessed on the basis of the broad costs of the kind of litigation at issue. Where the decision was unreasonable, the rates are assessed on the basis of the type of class of solicitor who ought to have been retained (per
Wraith v Sheffield Forgemasters Ltd [1997] EWCA Civ 2285).
By taking into account an irrelevant consideration and failing to assess reasonableness at the time the decision was made, the Master erred in finding that the decision to instruct was unreasonable, although there was no error in law in his approach to the reasonable hourly rate.
