Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Commercial Court on unclear CFA/ATE: schedule trumps policy; 'win' needs costs order; detailed assessment covered; FFA repayment; no commission on appeals—Plevin v DAS (England and Wales)

Published on: 29 May 2019

Published by a LexisNexis Dispute Resolution expert

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Article summary

Plevin v DAS Legal Expenses Insurance Company Ltd [2019] EWHC 1339 (Comm) What are the practical implications of this case?

Disputes over the reach of CFAs and after-the-event (ATE) insurance are routine within inter partes detailed assessment proceedings. This matter is somewhat out of the ordinary because it concerns a quarrel between a claimant, her solicitors, and an ATE insurer—though, in substance, between the solicitors and the insurer—about the effect of a clumsily drafted CFA and policy of insurance. The ruling is not the first occasion on which issues of construction of the CFA and the insurance policy in this litigation have surfaced. During the detailed assessment before the Supreme Court that culminated in Plevin v Paragon Personal Finance Limited [2017] UKSC 23, Paragon mounted similar objections. The case stands as a cautionary illustration of the hazards of neglecting to reach clear agreement on contractual provisions and of failing to record any asserted oral variations in writing. Miller Gardner incurred very substantial costs for which no inter partes order for costs was made. They appear to have proceeded buoyed by an expectation that those costs would ultimately be paid. It was, in essence, a row over contractual wording and effect...

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