Court fees can be funded
27th January 2015
As you no doubt know the Government has announced a further increase to court fees. The thinking appears to be that claimants have unlimited funds and should subsidise the courts. Apparently claimants should pay a more realistic cost of their court action. There are arguments that some costs are already much higher than their actual cost to the courts and I see it as another nail in the coffin of justice for all!
Small companies and individuals will have to pay these costs upfront, either from their pockets or the solicitor will have to subsidise them (much like at present but with higher drag on their cash flow).
QLP has the solution.
The clients can borrow the money (up to £100,000) from our partner (Novitas Funding) and secure the liability with an After the Event (ATE) policy from another partner ARAG.
At the conclusion of an unsuccessful case the ATE policy takes the strain, on successful conclusion of the case, court fees are legitimate disbursements and can be recovered from the defendant. At the time of writing we believe that interest on the loan is a legitimate disbursement and so is also recoverable (Jones v Department of Energy & Coal Board).
If court fees are too much to carry/fund talk to us.
QLP is always reviewing and expanding what can be funded (multi track PI is next) and solicitors’ views are always of appreciated.