Stop press: Rehabilitation/Deputy Attendances Not Recoverable Heads of Costs

On 22 June 2023 Master McCloud handed down her judgment on costs budgeting in Hadley v Przybylo [2023] EWHC 1392 (KB). Remarkable as much for the astronomy references (“the transit of Venue” or a “triple Jovian eclipse”) as the decision itself, Master McCloud decided that time costs for the claimant’s solicitor’s attendance at multidisciplinary team meetings or attendances on Court of Protection deputies were not budgetable or recoverable head of costs because they were not progressive of the litigation and therefore did not fall “within the notion of ‘costs’”.  Whether they could be claimed as an item of damages was left open as a matter for the claimant to argue at trial.

Master McCloud recognised the importance of the decision (generally, and for this particular claimant) and gave the claimant leave for a ‘leapfrog’ appeal to the Court of Appeal.  We will report back when the Court of Appeal gives its verdict on this narrow, but interesting point.