Misconduct outside the proceedings

Hall v Rover Financial Services (GB) Ltd (CA TLR 8 November)

The claimant purchased a Range Rover for £38,000 which was subsequently seized and sold under the previous owner’s hire purchase agreement. She succeeded in her claim against the hire purchase company for £38,000 damages for conversion but the judge refused to award her costs because he took the view that a reasonable person would have been suspicious at paying that amount for a three-month old car which sold originally for an amount exceeding £50,000. CPR rule 44.3 provides that to deprive a successful party of his costs on the grounds of misconduct, the misconduct had to relate to the proceedings themselves. The question was, therefore, whether the claimant’s conduct was truly a part of, or extraneous to, the proceedings. While her conduct was relevant to credit, it did not relate to the proceedings themselves and the claimant should not have been deprived of her costs.