If you don`t have a solicitor can you claim for costs?
Can a litigant in person claim costs for time and expenses? A person is a litigant in person during any stage of proceedings in court in which he or she is not represented by a solicitor. Litigants in person have the right to information regarding all detailed assessment proceedings. The costs recoverable by parties when they are or were litigants in person are governed by the litigants in person Act 1975. Costs recoverable by litigants in person i,Out of pocket expenses such as court fees travelling expenses to court and witness expenses if they relate to work that would have done by a solicitor had one acted for the litigant in person. ii, Payments made to obtain expert assistance in connection with assessing the costs claim, for this matter the expert would be a solicitor or barrister, however if the solicitor or barrister is giving general advice a claim cannot be made for assessing costs. iii, Costs for work done by the litigant in person which caused him or her loss eg losing a day`s pay to attend court. Calculation of charges for time spent in preparing the case i, To determine the cost of time spent the judge must the following 1, What work was done and how much time did it take? 2, Was the work necessary if so was an unreasonable amount of time spent doing the work compared to the time needed for a solicitor to do the same work? 3, The hourly rate for work is £9.25 unless other financial loss can be shown. 4, If the work was done by a solicitor what would it have reasonably cost? When a litigant in person intends to show a financial loss they must provide court with written evidence to support that claim, they should also supply a copy to the other partie. Calculation of disbursements 1, The litigant in person will be allowed reasonable disbursements court fees ect if the judge agrees after considering the following i, Were the costs actually incurred? ii, Were they necessary? iii, Is the sum to be claimed reasonable? If the judge does not accept that the costs were incurred or not necessary the entire claim will be refused. If the judge agrees the costs were incurred and rightly so but the claim is unreasonable because of the amount being claimed the judge will allow the claim at a reduced amount. The total claim must not exceed 2/3 of what a solicitor would have reasonably charged for the same work, what the work should have reasonably cost is at the judges discretion.
