I have just waded through a sheaf of paper relating to a CDS audit. They looked at 23 claims to a value of over £8K, all around which there might have been “claim splitting” issues in the Magistrates Court. They have just about halved these claims.
This has been an interesting area of late, with the LSC trying out some imaginative new interpretations of “charges laid at the same time” and other elements of the standard fee rules. “System of Conduct” looks up for redefinition in the one in front of me.
On a similar note I am just about to have a chat with a client who I need to persuade to appeal, currently they don’t want to in case it “upsets” their Contract Manager. What have things come to?
I made the point last week but repeat – assessors, or CMs for that matter, would not make some of these determination if they KNEW they would have to argue the point before a Cost Committee, or that firms would get reasonable costs for successful appeal preparation.
