Posted by Gemma Ospedale, Partner
On 1 September 2016 Withy King LLP merged with Royds LLP. The trading name for the merged firm is Royds Withy King. All content produced prior to this date will remain in the name of the firms pre-merger.
Court of Appeal confirms uplift in General damages is obligatory
In 2009, Lord Justice Jackson undertook a Review of Civil Litigation Costs in England and Wales. Amongst these extensive reforms was the eradication of recoverable success fee uplifts and, in their place, the claimant should recover ten percent more by way of general damages.
On assessing damages where the Claimant had been legally aided throughout, a Circuit Court Judge refused to apply the Simmons v Castle & Ors [2012] EWCA Civ 1288 uplift of 10% in damages.
The twist in Simmons, however, was the implication that only claimants who instructed solicitors before 1 April 2013 and who did not use a Conditional Fee Agreement would be deemed eligible to recover the uplift.
The architect behind the civil litigation reform himself, Lord Justice Jackson, granted the Claimant permission to appeal. On appeal, Lord Justice Davis clarified that the general damages increase of ten percent also apply to non-CFA cases concluded after 1 April 2013, Summers v Bundy [2016] EWCA Civ 126. For the avoidance of all doubt he also stated that judges have no discretion to depart from the uplift which we consider serves as a very helpful reminder!
