Getting Wasted: A Look at the Wasted Costs Regime - Gemma Witherington, John M Hayes
18/07/15. The wasted costs regime is set out in Section 4 of the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990, enacting section 51(7) of the Senior Courts Act 1981 which defines wasted costs as being costs incurred by a party “as a result of any improper, unreasonable or negligent act or omission” on the part of that representative. CPR r.48.7 and the Practice Direction to part 48 govern the wasted costs procedure. It requires the legal representative to be given a reasonable opportunity to give reasons why the order should not be made against them.
The Court will generally consider the application in two stages, a stage one hearing to consider whether there is prima facie case to answer and then a stage two hearing where the Court will go on to take a more detailed consideration of the application. A wasted costs order can be made at any time up to and including the detailed assessment. It should ordinarily be made before the trial judge unless there are any grounds for bias.
The leading authority on wasted costs is the Court of Appeal decision of...
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