Garbutt & Anor v Edwards & Anor [2005] EWCA Civ 1206 (27 October 2005)

Garbutt & Anor v Edwards & Anor [2005] EWCA Civ 1206 (27 October 2005)

A solicitor's failure to provide a costs estimate to their client as required by the Solicitors' Costs Information and Client Care Code does not render the contract of retainer unenforceable nor automatically affect the recoverability of costs from the paying party. The appropriate sanction for such a breach lies in the disciplinary powers of the Law Society, not in the assessment of inter partes costs. However, the costs judge may, in their discretion, take the absence of an estimate into account when assessing what costs are reasonable and proportionate, but only where there is a real basis for doing so and where the absence of an estimate could have had a calculable and material effect...

Citation
[2005] EWCA Civ 1206
Parties
Claimants/respondents: John Mallory Garbutt & Another; Defendants/appellants: Andrew Edwards & Another
Jurisdiction
England and Wales
Judgment Date
27 October 2005
Procedural Posture
Civil Appeal / Appeal From Cambridge County Court to Court of Appeal (civil Division)
Outcome
Appeal dismissed
Legal Topics
Costs Assessment, Solicitors' Duties, Indemnity Principle, Client Care, Enforceability of Retainer, Sanctions for Breach of Code
Civil Procedure Legal Profession Costs Assessment Solicitors' Duties Indemnity Principle Client Care Enforceability of Retainer Sanctions for Breach of Code

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Parties

John Mallory Garbutt & Another

Claimants/respondents

Andrew Edwards & Another

Defendants/appellants

Procedural Posture

Civil Appeal / Appeal From Cambridge County Court to Court of Appeal (civil Division)

Legal Issues

  1. 1 Does a solicitor's failure to provide a costs estimate to their client under the Solicitors' Costs Information and Client Care Code render the contract of retainer unenforceable or affect the recoverability of costs from the paying party?
  2. 2 Should the paying party be entitled to a reduction or discharge of liability for costs where the receiving party's solicitor failed to provide an estimate?

Ratio Decidendi

A solicitor's failure to provide a costs estimate to their client as required by the Solicitors' Costs Information and Client Care Code does not render the contract of retainer unenforceable nor automatically affect the recoverability of costs from the paying party. The appropriate sanction for such a breach lies in the disciplinary powers of the Law Society, not in the assessment of inter partes costs. However, the costs judge may, in their discretion, take the absence of an estimate into account when assessing what costs are reasonable and proportionate, but only where there is a real basis for doing so and where the absence of an estimate could have had a calculable and material effect...

Court Disposition

Appeal dismissed

Orders

  • The order of the judge below is affirmed; no reduction or discharge of costs liability due to absence of estimate.