Against funded party

Hatton v Hopkins and another [2005] ChD 20 October

Where costs have been ordered against a party in receipt of public funding, any application under s11 of the Access to Justice Act 1999 by the receiving party for an order seeking determination of the assisted party’s costs liability must be made within three months of the date of the costs order. The receiving party is not entitled to wait until all possible costs orders between him and the protected party in the proceedings have been made before making an application for a determination. Regulation 12(4)(c) of the Community Legal Services (Costs) Regulations 2000 (SI 2000 No 441) makes provision for an application for an extension of time on specified grounds or ‘other good reasons justifying the … failure to make an application within the time limit’. Waiting until all the proceedings had concluded before making an application under s11 does not amount to a good reason. One of the grounds provided under regulation 12 (4)(a) is a change in the assisted person’s circumstances and it would have been open to the receiving party to have waited to apply for an extension of time until the assisted person had sold a house. The question of whether having made one unsuccessful application, the receiving party could make a further application in the event of a change in the assisted parties’ financial circumstances was not adjudicated upon.