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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> England and Wales High Court (Queen's Bench Division) Decisions >> The Public Services Ombudsman for Wales v Heesom [2015] EWHC 3306 (QB) (22 October 2015) URL: http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/QB/2015/3306.html Cite as: [2015] EWHC 3306 (QB) |
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QUEEN'S BENCH DIVISION
ON APPEAL FROM THE SENIOR COURTS COSTS OFFICE
(MASTER HAWORTH)
Strand London WC2A 2LL |
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B e f o r e :
____________________
THE PUBLIC SERVICES OMBUDSMAN FOR WALES |
Appellant/Paying Party |
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- and - |
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PATRICK HEESOM |
Respondent/Receiving Party |
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8th Floor, 165 Fleet Street, London EC4A 2DY
Tel No: 020 7404 1400 Fax No: 020 704 1424
Web: www.DTIGlobal.com Email: [email protected]
(Official Shorthand Writers to the Court)
Martin Westgate QC (instructed by Howe & Co Solicitors and Robins Costs Consultants Ltd) appeared for the Respondent
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Crown Copyright ©
MR JUSTICE HICKINBOTTOM:
Background
"The hearing of the appeal to be transferred to Cardiff with a direction that the appeal be heard in North Wales."
The claim was duly transferred to the Administrative Court Office in Cardiff, where it was administered, a number of orders for directions being made there following transfer.
"I have been forwarded your email below by the Administrative Court Office Wales staff for advice.
The advice of the Administrative Court Office is that all applications for a detailed assessment of costs arising out of
Administrative Court proceedings must be lodged in the [SCCO]. The reasoning behind this advice is as such:
1. CPR 47.4(1) requires all applications for a detailed assessment of costs to be lodged in 'the appropriate office'.2. The meaning of 'appropriate office' is outlined in CPR PD 47 paragraph 4.3. All five offices of the Administrative Court Office (that is to say Birmingham, Cardiff, Leeds, London and Manchester) are part of 'the Administrative Court Office' and as such Administrative Court claims are not covered by the directions in CPR PD 47, paragraphs 4.1(a) and (b). Thus the direction in CPR PD 47, paragraph 4.1(c) applies and the application for a detailed assessment must be lodged in the SCCO.
I hope this assists. Please feel free to contact the Administrative Court office or me if you have any further queries."
I shall return to the relevant provisions of CPR Part 47 shortly.
The Application for an Extension of Time
"A judge should address an application for relief from sanctions in three stages. The first stage is to identify and assess the seriousness and significance of the 'failure to comply with any rule, practice direction or court order' which engages rule 3.9(1). If the breach is neither serious nor significant, the court is unlikely to need to spend much time on the second and third stages. The second stage is to consider why the default occurred. The third stage is to evaluate 'all the circumstances of the case, so as to enable [the court] to deal justly with the application…'."
In Hysaj, at [38], this guidance was expressly held to be applicable to applications for extensions of time for filing a notice of appeal.
The Venue Appeal
"This Practice Direction is intended to facilitate access to justice by enabling cases to be administered and determined in the most appropriate location. To achieve this purpose it provides flexibility in relation to where claims are to be administered and enables claims to be transferred to different venues."
"2.1 The claim form in proceedings in the Administrative Court may be issued at the Administrative Court Office of the High Court at
(1) the Royal Courts of Justice in London; or(2) at the District Registry of the High Court at Birmingham, Cardiff, Leeds, or Manchester unless the claim is one of the excepted classes of claim set out in paragraph 3 of this Practice Direction which may only be started and determined at the Royal Courts of Justice in London.2.2 Any claim started in Birmingham will normally be determined at a court in the Midland Region (geographically covering the area of the Midland Circuit); in Cardiff in Wales; in Leeds in the North Eastern Region (geographically covering the area of the North Eastern Circuit); in London at the Royal Courts of Justice; and in Manchester, in the North Western Region (geographically covering the Northern Circuit)."
We are not here concerned with any of the excepted classes of claim in paragraph 3 of the practice direction.
"(1) All applications and requests in detailed assessment proceedings must be made to or filed at the appropriate office.
(Practice Direction 47 sets out the meaning of 'appropriate office' in any particular case)
(2) The court may direct that the appropriate office is to be the [SCCO]."
"4.1 For the purposes of rule 47.4(1), the 'appropriate office' means —
(a) the district registry… in which the case was being dealt with when the judgment or order was made or the event occurred which gave rise to the right to assessment, or to which it has subsequently been transferred;(b) …(c) in all other cases, including Court of Appeal cases, the [SCCO].…
4.3(1) A direction under rule 47.4(2)… specifying a particular court, registry or office as the appropriate office may be given on application or on the court's own initiative.
(2) Unless the [SCCO] is the appropriate office for the purposes of rule 47.4(1) an order directing that an assessment is to take place at the [SCCO] will be made only if it is appropriate to do so having regard to the size of the bill of costs, the difficulty of the issues involved, the likely length of the hearing, the cost to the parties and any other relevant matter."
"During the hours when the court is open, where an urgent application needs to be made to the Administrative Court outside London, the application must be made to the judge designated to deal with such applications in the relevant District Registry." (emphasis added)
"It is sufficient for present purposes to say that a practice direction has no legislative force. Practice directions provide invaluable guidance to matters of practice in the civil courts, but in so far as they contain statements of the law which are wrong they carry no authority at all."
However, as that passage itself makes clear, CPR Practice Directions may (and, often, do) give helpful guidance; and they are, of course, drafted by the Civil Rules Committee which also drafts the Rules themselves. Rightly, in my respectful view, it is at least clearly assumed in CPR PD 54D that, when they issue proceedings, out-of- London Administrative Court Offices do so through the district registries of which they are an integral part.
(i) under rule 47.4(2), the court may direct that the appropriate office in a particular case is the SCCO: in other words, there is specific provision for transfer of a costs assessment from outside London to the SCCO; and(ii) as I have emphasised, just because the assessment is in a particular district registry that does not require any assessment hearing to be at a particular venue: for example, the court can direct that an assessment in the Cardiff District Registry will be heard in, say, Mold.
The Costs Appeal
"Looking at matters in the round together with a point of dispute and replies, costs judges are well used to dealing with these types of applications and it seems to me that there is scope here for a further interim payment to [Mr Heesom], albeit not in the sum that [he seeks]. Being cautious, considering the bill, the points of dispute [and] replies and generally looking at a possible outcome at detailed assessment, I am going to award an interim certificate of £100,000."
(After further submissions on costs.)
Note 1 Namely (i) appeals under section 289(6) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 and section 65(5) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 (see CPR 52DPD.27); (ii) appeals from decisions of the Law Society or the Solicitors’ Disciplinary Tribunal under the Solicitors Act 1974 and other statutes (see CPR 52DPD.28); and (iii) appeals from decisions of the Bar Standards Board and Disciplinary Tribunals of the Council of the Inns of Court under section 24 of the Crime and Courts Act 2013 (see CPR 52DPD.28.1), [Back]