Protective costs orders

R (on the application of Compton) v Wiltshire Primary Care Trust [2008] EWCA Civ 749

The court confirmed that the principles for making a protective costs order set out in R (Corner House) v Secretary of State [2005] 1 WLR 2600 are to be followed in the court of first instance and in the Court of Appeal. The criterion that the issues raised had to be of ‘general’ public importance did not mean they had to be of interest to all the public nationally. In the present case, it had been open to the judge to find that there was a public interest in the resolution of issues as to the closure of parts of a hospital that affected a wide community, and that the issues were therefore of general public importance. ‘Exceptionality’ was not an additional criterion but a prediction of the effect of applying the principles of Corner House .