Outsourcing

In Woollard and another v Fowler (25/ LL p73) the senior costs judge held that successful claimants who were entitled to fixed costs under Section II of CPR Part 45 were also entitled to recover the fees of medical reporting agencies as disbursements. There were several earlier decisions by district judges to the contrary and there were some strongly expressed opinions that this decision drove a coach and horses through the principle of fixed costs. The decision was the subject of an appeal to the Court of Appeal on a variety of grounds, but shortly before the date fixed for the hearing of the appeal it was stayed to enable the parties to attempt mediation through the Civil Justice Council.