For what it’s worth here’s the deal:-
THE SCOPE OF THIS AGREEMENT IS AS FOLLOWS
1. What is covered by this Agreement?
1.1 Your claim for damages for Distress and Loss (including General Damages for Pain, Suffering and loss of Amenity and Damages for Pecuniary Loss) suffered as a result of, but not exclusively, the misuse of private information by the defendant,
1.2 All work already undertaken on your behalf including the work required in setting up this agreement;
1.3 Any Application for pre-action or non-party disclosure;
1.4 Any Appeal you make against an Interim Order or an Assessment of Costs;
1.5 ADR (including mediation) relating to the ‘claim’;
1.6 Any Appeal by the Opponent;
1.7 Any proceedings you take to enforce a Court Judgment, Order or Agreement;
1.8 Negotiations about and/or a Court Assessment of the Costs of this claim.
2. What is not covered by this agreement (unless otherwise agreed)?
2.1 Any Appeal you make against the final Judgment or Order;
2.2 Any Part 20 Counterclaim made against you, or Counterclaim or Defence by way of set off which still exists after your claim has either been ‘Won’ or you ‘Lose’, or otherwise concluded;
2.3 Any Appeal against an Interim Order made by your Opponent.
3. Paying Us If You ‘Win’
3.1 If your claim is successful you are liable to pay all our basic charges, our expenses and disbursements and a success fee, together with the premium for any After The Event (‘ATE’) insurance you take out.
3.2 In the event that your claim has a value in excess of the Small Claims Limit (currently £1,000 for damages for Pain, Suffering and Loss of Amenity or £10,000 for other losses), then you may be entitled to seek recovery from the Opponent, part, or all, of our basic charges and our expenses and disbursements, you may also be able to the ATE Insurance premium from the opponent with any unrecovered element being paid by you subject to clause 8.5 below.
4. Disbursements and Expenses
4.1 If you receive interim damages before the end of your claim, we may require you to pay our disbursements and expenses to date at that point and an amount for future expenses and disbursements;
4.2 If your claim is successful but you are ordered to pay the other side’s charges following an Interlocutory Hearing, then such charges will usually only be up to the amount of damages awarded to you. Such charges may be covered by your ATE insurance policy subject to the terms of the policy and your compliance with such terms;
4.3 If, prior to a final Judgment, you are awarded any costs, either by way of a Court Order or Agreement, then we are entitled to payment of those costs together with any success fee on those charges if your claim is successful.
5. What Do I Pay If I Lose?
5.1 If you lose you do not have to pay our basic charges provided that you have complied with our Terms and Conditions. However, you may be required to pay our disbursements and expenses, although these may be covered by any ATE insurance policy you have purchased, subject to compliance with the Terms and Conditions of that policy;
5.2 If you lose your claim, you may be responsible for some, or all, of the Opponent’s costs. If your claim includes a claim for General Damages for Pain, Suffering and Loss of Amenity, then you may benefit from Qualified One-Way Costs Shifting. In such circumstances, the Court will not usually enforce an Order for Costs against you unless:
5.2.1 The claim is fundamentally dishonest; or
5.2.2 The proceedings have been struck out; or
5.2.3 The claim includes a claim for the financial benefit of another party.
6 Basic Charges
6.1 These are for work undertaken on your claim from your initial instructions until this Agreement ends. These charges are subject to an annual review;
6.2 We calculate these charges based on each hour engaged on your case. Routine letters and telephone calls are charged as units of 1/10 of an hour. Any other type of letters and telephone calls will be charged on a time engaged basis. The hourly rate that we will charge is £400 per hour depending on the actual work being undertaken and the grade of fee earner undertaking the work. This section should be read alongside our Terms and Conditions and the section entitled ‘Your Legal Costs and Disbursements’.
6.3 The hourly rate set out in 6.2 assumes that the work being undertaken relates to negotiations and/or proceedings in the County Court that is commensurate with the type of work, in terms of value and complexity akin to that jurisdiction. Occasionally it may be necessary to commence proceedings in the High Court in relation to declaration proceedings or proceedings for Injunctive relief. In these circumstances, and to reflect the increase complexity of these types of proceedings our hourly rate will be charged at £550 per hour.
7 Right to Cancel/Ending This Agreement
7.1 If you have entered into this Agreement in the physical presence of our employees, servant and/or agent, away from our business premises (i.e. in your home), or the Contract was agreed on our business premises immediately after you were personally and individually addressed away from our business premises, in the presence of one of our employees, servants and/or agents, then you have a right to cancel this Agreement within 14 days;
7.2 If you cancel within the 14-day time limit, you will pay nothing. However, if you end the Agreement before you ‘Win’ or ‘Lose’, you pay our basic charges and disbursements and expenses. If your case ultimately succeeds, you also pay a success fee. We reserve the right to end this Agreement at any time if either you have failed to comply with the terms of this Agreement, you reject our advice on any potential settlement or the prospects of success of a ‘Win’ are reduced to below 50%.
8 The Success Fee
8.1 The success fee is set at 75% of our basic charges, or 100%, if the claim concludes less than 45 days before Trial, including following a Judgment.
8.2 The success fee percentage reflects the following: -
8.2.1 Our assessment of the risks of your case;
8.2.2 The fact that if you lose, we will not earn anything;
8.2.3 Any other appropriate factors;
8.2.4 Our arrangements with you about paying expenses and disbursements;
8.2.5 The risks of recovering damages from your opponent, which is less than their Part 36 Offer which you have rejected, on our advice;
8.2.6 Unless it is expressly stated in writing, no part of the success fee relates to postponement of payment of fees and expenses.
8.2.7 Additional case specific risks which are set out in any risk assessment.
8.3 The success fee cannot be more than 100% of the basic charges in total.
8.4 As your claim may include a claim for Pain, Suffering and Loss of Amenity, for psychological or psychiatric injury, there is a maximum limit, in percentage terms, on the level of success fee which we can recover from you.
8.5 That maximum limit is 25% of the total amount of any claim for General Damages for Pain, Suffering, Loss of Amenity and Damages for Pecuniary loss. Claims for future Pecuniary Loss are unaffected.
8.6 The maximum limit in percentage terms that is applicable is net of any sums recoverable by the Compensation Recovery Unit of the Department of Work and Pensions. The maximum limit (25%) is inclusive of any VAT charges at the prevailing rate.
8.7 The maximum limit, in percentage terms, only applies to a success fee for proceedings at first instance. The maximum limit would not apply, for example, to any Appeal by your opponent.
8.8 In the event of a dispute regarding the calculation of the success fee, the parties agree for the dispute to be determined by an independent barrister of at least 10 years call, to be appointed by agreement between us. In default of agreement, the barrister be appointed by the President of the Law Society of England and Wales, such barrister to act as expert, not arbitrator and his/her decision shall be binding.
The barrister’s fees are to be met by the losing party to the dispute.
9 Additional Information and Terms
9.1 We add VAT at the prevailing rate that applies to the work when it has been carried out. VAT is added to the total of the basic charges and the success fee (however, the maximum success fee of 25% is inclusive of VAT). Our VAT registration number is 329824182 The parties acknowledge and agree that this Agreement is not a contentious Business Agreement within the meaning of the Solicitors Act 1974;
9.2 It may be that your opponent makes a Part 36 offer, or other formal offer to settle your claim, which you reject on our advice, and your claim for damages goes ahead to Trial where you recover damages that are less than that Offer. If this happens, we will not claim our basic charges and success fee for any work done after the expiry of the Part 36 Offer. However, in these circumstances, you may be ordered to pay your opponent’s costs from the expiry of the Part 36 Offer. If your claim includes a claim for General Damages for Pain Suffering and Loss of Amenity, then any payment to your Opponent in costs, will be limited to the amount of damages and interest awarded to you, under the Qualified One-Way Costs Shifting Provisions;
9.3 In the event of a ‘Win’, but we fail to recover all of our basic charges and success fee from the opponent; we will not claim from you any basic charges, success fee and vat, in excess of the amount recovered (for basic charges, success fee and vat) from the opponent.
9.4 The above clause (9.3) will not apply if this agreement is ended for any reason before a ‘Win’ or a ‘Lose’.
9.5 The description of the Claim, as set out above and within the definitions, is for recognition purposes and does not in any way limit the ambit of this Agreement; the ambit of the retainer shall be taken to include all issues that the parties understood to be the subject of the Claim. The ambit may change from time to time, as the Claim progresses. For example, if an opponent is incorrectly described or if there are additional opponents added, after this Agreement was first made, the ambit of the Agreement will not be in any way limited by the fact that the description of the Claim as set out above, may not be wholly accurate and complete;
9.6 You have the right to apply to the Court for an assessment of our costs, including the success fee.
They must think I am a right ****er. Not necessarily wrong.
