Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Discontinuance costs: claimants must prove interference on balance to disapply CPR 38.6—BB v Al Khayyat (EWHC, England and Wales)

Published on: 05 March 2025

Published by a LexisNexis Dispute Resolution expert

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Article summary

BB and others v Al Khayyat and other [2025] EWHC 379 (KB)

What are the practical implications of this case?

This notable ruling explores the tension between the default costs position on discontinuance and the court’s imperative to uphold the integrity of its own process. Here, the claimants who discontinued levelled serious accusations at a particular defendant and a connected state actor. If established, they would signify a grave attempt by a defendant, or those acting for them, to interfere with the administration of justice. Nonetheless, merely advancing such charges—even if cogent and prima facie arguable—does not, without more, dislodge the relevant presumption. Integrity-based concerns alone do not supplant that starting point; the court must be satisfied, on the balance of probabilities, that the allegations are well-founded. Only then will it depart from the norm in CPR 38.6, under which a claimant who discontinues is ordinarily liable for the defendant’s costs. In the absence of findings to that standard, the default position endures...

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