Assessment of success fee

Oliver v Whipps Cross University Hospital NHS Trust and another [2009] EWHC 1104 (QB); SJ 2 June p29

John Frederick Oliver died of septicaemia in a hospital run by the defendants. The solicitors agreed to act under a conditional fee agreement with a success fee of 100%, which represented a notional 50% prospect of success in the action. The agreement noted that the solicitors had not yet had the opportunity to test the credibility of the evidence or assess the relevant facts of expert witnesses. Accordingly, the prospects of success were uncertain and it was impossible to assess the percentage chance of success with any mathematical precision. The proceedings were settled. The costs judge reduced the success fee to 67% which represented a 60% chance of success. The costs judge stated that the solicitors must have thought there was more than a 50% chance of success, otherwise the claim would not have been accepted, and that the appropriate figure was 60%.