The eagerly awaited Mitchell case is upon us

Posted in Latest News on 4 Nov 2013

There is one name that will be on the lips of all Litigation Lawyers this month - Mitchell.

You may recall "Plebgate" which involved Andrew Mitchell MP, his bicycle, a few policemen and the gates to Downing Street. Well in the subsequent libel action launched by Mitchell against the Sun, his lawyers (Atkins Thomson) failed to submit a costs budget in time. As a result the firm had its budget limited to court fees alone.

The long and short of this is that as it stands even if the MP wins his libel action he will not be able to make a claim for his legal costs from the Sun but instead he will be limited to the recovery of court administrative costs of around £2,000. Libel action costs generally run into the £100,000s and can push £1 million.

Atkins Thomson has appealed the judgement citing staffing issues brought about by maternity leave amongst other things. The Court of Appeal will hear this on 7th November but many commentators are expecting that the appeal will be dismissed.

The main reason for the pessimism is the way that the Court of Appeal has set itself up to deal with Jackson related appeal matters. A Law Gazette article from August 2013 captures the scene magnificently:

"Limbering up on the side-lines is a quintet of Court of Appeal judges - dubbed the 'Jackson Five' - ready to get stuck into these types of issues. When a Jackson-related point is appealed at least one of the five (Lord Dyson, Lord Justice Jackson and Lord Justices Richards, Davis and Lewison) will be on the bench. The fact that five such Judges have been nominated (rather than two as Jackson originally recommended) shows just how keen the judiciary is to get appeals listed swiftly and start handing down some guidance."

Interesting stuff and compelling viewing for anyone with a stake in the future of the UKs legal services.

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