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SECTION 5 |
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5.1 |
Time for Points of Dispute and Consequences of Not Serving |
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| (a) |
Any party served with notice of commencement and the bill of costs may dispute
any item in the bill by serving points of dispute on the receiving party and every other party to the
detailed assessment proceedings. This must be done within 21 days after the date of service of the
notice of commencement (CPR 47.9(2)), unless the parties agree to extend or shorten the time
specified by the rule. A party may apply to the court for the time to be extended or shortened.
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| (b) |
Where a notice of commencement is served on a party outside England and Wales
the period within which that party should serve points of dispute is to be calculated by reference
to CPR Part 6 Section III (special provisions about service out of the jurisdiction) as if the notice
of commencement was a claim form and as if the period for serving points of dispute were the
period for filing a defence.
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| (c) |
If the receiving party is not served with any points of dispute and the period for
doing so has expired, he may apply for a default costs certificate, as to which, see Section 6,
below: (CPR 47.9(4)).
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5.2 |
Form and Contents of Points of Dispute |
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| (a) |
Points of dispute should be short and to the point and should follow as closely as
possible Precedent G of the Schedule of Costs Precedents (see Appendix, para A-3).
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| (b) |
The points of dispute should identify each item in the bill of costs which is disputed;
state concisely the nature and grounds of the dispute and, where practicable, suggest a figure to be
allowed instead of the figure which has been claimed. As a general rule, where details of an item
are given in a schedule to the bill (eg, the Documents Item) it is not necessary for the Points of
Dispute to deal separately with each individual entry in that schedule.
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| (c) |
A paying party may dispute a bill on the basis that the costs claimed therein exceed
the amount of costs shown in an estimate of costs which the receiving party previously filed in the
proceedings. In order to raise this dispute the paying party should include in his Points of Dispute a
statement setting out his case if he:
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| (i) |
claims that he reasonably relied on the estimate of costs filed by the receiving party;
or
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| (ii) |
wishes to rely upon the costs shown in the estimate in order to dispute the reasonable
or proportionality of the costs claimed in the bill.
(N.B. the consequences of raising such a point of dispute are considered further in paragraph 9.3,
below.)
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| (d) |
Where the receiving party claims an additional liability, a party serving points of
dispute may include a request for information about other methods of financing costs which were
available to the receiving party (CPD para 35.7(1)).
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| (e) |
The points of dispute should be signed by the party or his solicitor. If the points of
dispute are capable of being copied onto a computer disk, the receiving party is entitled to demand a
disk copy free of charge (CPD para 35.6).
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5.3 |
Time Limit for Replies and Their Format |
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| (a) |
Where points of dispute are served the receiving party may serve a reply on the other
parties to the assessment proceedings. The time limit for a reply is 21 days after service on him of
the points of dispute (CPR 47.13).
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| (b) |
There is no obligation upon a receiving party to serve a reply. Before doing so the
receiving party should consider whether the expense of a reply can be justified: it probably cannot
if the reply will merely deny the points in dispute.
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| (c) |
The reply may take the form of an annotation to the points of dispute (see para 5.2 |
| (d) |
above) or may be set out on a separate document. Serving a reply on a separate document does not
avoid the obligation to file points of dispute annotated as necessary in order to show which items
have been agreed and their value and which items remain in dispute and their value (see further para
8.2, below).
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5.4 |
Where Points of Dispute Challenge Success Fees |
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If a paying party challenges the amount of a success fee claimed on behalf of counsel or a solicitor,
it may become necessary for the court to rule not only upon that point of dispute, but also upon the
liability of the receiving party to pay to his legal representatives any disallowed amount. The
procedure to be followed in such cases is set out in Section 20, below.
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