Hourly Rate and Overall Costs of a LIP

Stockinger v Highdorn Co Ltd & Ors (SCCO Report No 3 of 2001)

This was an appeal against an assessment of costs heard by Brown J sitting with assessors. The claimant was a lawyer highly qualified in several foreign jurisdictions who had acquired a practising certificate in this country in 1998. He had successfully obtained judgment for damages of £96,000 with costs for the destruction of his substantial and very distinctive personal library of books. On assessment of his costs the deputy costs judge allowed Mr Stockinger £90 per hour, being £10 per hour less than the two-thirds of the hourly rate of a medium sized Holborn or West End firm, the proceedings having been conducted in the Clerkenwell County Court. On appeal it was held the claimant was entitled to the full two-thirds of what a solicitor would have charged, and there was no warrant for any reduction such as was made by the deputy costs judge.