Increased costs budget approved at trial
JSC Mezhdunarodniy Promyshlenniy Bank and Another v Pugachev and Others [2017] EWHC 1853 (Ch)
This decision concerned a late Application for an increase of £84,000 for budgeted costs partway through trial to cover extra costs to be incurred by the Claimant by reason of the fact that an additional day and a half was required to finish the trial. The Application was allowed.
The original budget approved for the infant children fighting the claim had been £1.8m. More work needed to be done than had been budgeted for, including written closing submissions to assist the Court in arriving at a final conclusion.
In approving the increase, the Court also indicated satisfaction “that the hourly rates charged and the daily rates for Counsel and the Claimants’ Solicitors, as being reasonable and proportionate, at least for the purposes of approving the budget”.
A good example of the need to obtain Court approval to increase a costs budget when the circumstances dictate (and also of the Court’s ability to indicate approval of the hourly rates for solicitors when setting a costs budget).
