Delay in detailed assessment

Less and others v Benedict ChD LSG 25 July

The claimants were ordered to pay the defendant’s costs to be ascertained by detailed assessment, and the defendant served notices for commencement of assessment. The notices were served within the time limit specified in CPR rule 47.7, but as a result of confusion and oversight it was not until three and half years later that the defendant re-served the notices on the claimants at their last known addresses. The claimants submitted that: their right to a hearing within a reasonable time under article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights would be breached if the costs assessment was allowed to continue; the excessive and unreasonable delay without explanation was an abuse of process; the claimants could not have a fair hearing as they no longer had access to the relevant files; the court should impose a sanction for delay pursuant to CPR rules 3.4 and 44.14; it was inappropriate to order re-service of the notices some three and a half years after their effective date; such an order amounted to a rerunning of the assessment which was not a course open to the master in the exercise of his discretion.