Agreement was not CFA and did not breach indemnity principle

Harrington v Wakeling ChD SJ 8 June

The claimant was the liquidator of Chelmsford City Football Club, who succeeded in litigation against the defendant and was awarded his costs. However, there was a dispute between the claimant and his solicitor about the solicitor and client costs, including those of Mr Harrington’s predecessor which had resulted in litigation between them. The solicitor and client litigation was settled on terms that the solicitor would not seek any further costs from Mr Harrington except he would be paid any further costs recovered from the defendant. On the detailed assessment the defendant argued that the agreement between Mr Harrington and his solicitor was an unenforceable CFA and therefore on the indemnity no costs were payable at all. The costs judge held that the arrangement did breach the indemnity principle in respect of future costs but not in respect of the costs which had actually been paid, which were therefore recoverable. Both parties appealed.