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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> Scottish Court of Session Decisions >> Greig v. Balfour and Co. [1898] ScotLR 35_597 (16 March 1898) URL: http://www.bailii.org/scot/cases/ScotCS/1898/35SLR0597.html Cite as: [1898] ScotLR 35_597, [1898] SLR 35_597 |
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Page: 597↓
(1) Precognition of Pursuer.—A charge for drawing pursuer's precognition and making a copy thereof, disallowed.
(2) Copies of Precognitions.—Where a pursuer was found entitled to expenses up to the date of a tender by the defender lodged within eight days of the adjustment of issues, a charge by the pursuer for two copies of the precognitions of his witnesses, sent to counsel immediately after the adjustment of issues, disallowed, the interval between the adjustment of issues and the trial being close on three months.
(3) Fees to Counsel.—Circumstances in which a fee of twenty-five guineas to senior counsel for a jury trial which lasted only one day allowed.
Page: 598↓
This was an action concluding for payment of £5000 in name of damages for slander raised by J. B. Greig, banker, Laurencekirk, against John Balfour & Company, publishers of the “Montrose Standard.”
Within a week of issues being adjusted in October, the defenders lodged a tender of £50 with expenses; and at the trial in January at which the Lord President presided, a jury awarded the pursuer £25. Accordingly, when the verdict was applied the defenders were found liable in expenses up to the date of the tender, and entitled to expenses after that date.
Upon the Auditor's report on parties' accounts coming up for approval, the defenders objected to the following items in the pursuer's account—(1) a charge of four guineas for taking the pursuer's precognition and making a copy thereof, and (2) a charge of nine guineas for two copies of the precognitions sent to counsel immediately after the adjustment of issues. Both of these had been allowed by the Auditor. In the taxation of the defenders' account the defenders objected to the Auditor disallowing twenty—five guineas as senior counsel's fee for the trial. It was stated at the bar that the trial had lasted from ten in the morning till twenty minutes past nine at night, and that although comparatively few witnesses were examined for the defenders, a large number of precognitions had to be read. With reference to the precognition of the pursuer, the defenders relied on Rough v. Lyell, January 21, 1854, 16 D. 381.
The pursuer argued that no good reason had been shown for altering the decision of the Auditor, and in particular that twenty guineas was a sufficient fee for one day's work.
The Court sustained the defenders' objections to the Auditor's report on their account quoad the sum taxed off from the fee to Mr Jameson and his clerk, and decerned against the pursuer for the taxed amount of the account plus the said sum. As regards the defenders' objections to the Auditor's report on the pursuer's account, the Court sustained the same quoad the fees for drawing pursuer's precognition and the fee for two copies of the precognitions, and decerned against the defenders for the taxed amount of the account less the above sums.
Counsel for the Pursuer— Shaw, Q.C.— F. T. Cooper. Agent— A. W. Gordon, Solicitor.
Counsel for the Defenders— Jameson, Q.C.— A. S. D. Thomson. Agents— Welsh & Forbes, S.S.C.