Legal bill of €33,000 for €8,000 compensation case is ‘unrealistic’, judge says

A High Court judge has described as “unrealistic” a €33,000 legal bill arising out of an €8,000 trip and fall award.

Mr Justice Anthony Barr said the amount of legal costs recoverable from a defendant “cannot in justice be out of all proportion to the amount of damages actually obtained”.

The judge said the case was brought in the Circuit Court when it should have been brought in the District Court, where it would have been dealt with faster and cheaper.

The District Court can make awards of up to €15,000.

Mr Justice Barr said that to take a case in a higher court than was appropriate and then to present a bill for legal fees four times the damages awarded was “unrealistic”.

“At the end of the day, reality has to enter the equation,” the judge said, as he refused to find that the imposition of District Court level fees was unlawful.

The €8,000 award came in Circuit Court personal injuries proceedings brought successfully by Kevin Nolan against KC Cable Vision Limited, Virgin Media Limited and a county council, who all denied responsibility.

He alleged he tripped and fell on April 3, 2018, due to a footpath defect at The Causeway, Dungarvan, Co Waterford. He suffered a soft tissue injury to his right ankle.

The Circuit Court gave judgment against the cable company and Virgin Media and awarded Mr Nolan his legal costs against the two firms at the lower District Court level.

Mr Nolan’s lawyers presented the companies with a bill for €32,986, of which €19,414 was the solicitor’s fee excluding outlay and VAT. The barrister’s fee was €2,350 excluding VAT, said Mr Justice Barr.

The county registrar cut the solicitor’s fee to €2,250 plus VAT and outlay and the barrister’s fee to €800 plus VAT.

Mr Nolan, with an address at Davitts Quay, Dungarvan, then brought a High Court case contending the District Court Rules Committee and the county registrar breached a section of the Courts Act of 1981 that allegedly prohibits the imposition of scale fees by any rules of court.

Mr Justice Barr said District Court Rules, made by the District Court Rules Committee, set out that where damages of between €6,000 and €9,000 are recovered, a solicitor’s costs were €2,250. The amount for a barrister, where awards are between €7,000 and €9,000, was €800. These amounts were increased in 2023 by €475 and €40 respectively, he said.

Ruling, the judge held that a proper construction of section 17(4) of the 1981 Act permits the rules committee to fix a scale for recoverable fees for actions heard in the District Court.

Fixing fees in the District Court is “entirely sensible” to avoid the “mischief” of having different costs allowed by different judges, he said. This approach enables people to know what level of legal costs they are likely to face if they are unsuccessful in a civil District Court action, he said.

It is “clear” when reading section 17 as a whole that it is designed to provide that the only recoverable legal costs are those that would have been recoverable in the lowest court with jurisdiction to hear a particular claim.

Actions in the District Court are intended to be heard with the “minimum formality” to provide a “fast and cheap method of dealing with relatively minor dispute”, said the judge.

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