Fixed costs

Fixed costs are simple in their application and simple in concept.  The legal costs of certain work to be conducted by a lawyer is specified.  The difficulty is that once they have been fixed they rarely change.  Also, this only specifies how much the other side will have to pay if a fixed cost applies, the client can be charged considerably more and has to swallow the difference.

In 1994 a party could claim fixed costs of £180.25 for issuing a claim over £5,000.  Today they can claim £100!  Where the claim was for recovery of land then in 1994 fixed costs of £285.25 were allowed on entering judgment, whereas now it is £126.75.  So much for inflation, and needless to say it is the client who foots the bill.

The idea of a fixed cost is that it is fixed.  That has not stopped arguments over what is fixed and how it is fixed.

There are 4 types of fixed costs that need to be considered.  These are:

• Costs for issuing and obtaining judgment on simple cases;
• Costs of enforcing judgments;
• Fixed fast track trial costs; and
• Fixed costs for road traffic accident claims which settled without Court proceedings being issued.

Fixed costs are dealt with in Rules 45 and 46 of the Civil Procedure Rules 1998.