Louise McHugh v Harold Burnett (Preston CC)

DDJ Stuart accepted the defendant’s argument that this RTA claim was caught by PCR despite the claimant being a minor.

The claimant relied on the cases of Dockerill v Tullett and Thaxton v Goodman but these proved to work against her eventually.

This Detailed Assessment related to an RTA claim, involving a claimant who was a minor.  The claimant’s solicitors claimed costs on the standard basis on the grounds that this was an infant claim.

The defendant argued that under the provisions of CPR P45 the claimant’s costs should be restricted to PCR.

The claimant’s representative relied on the cases of Dockerill v Tullett and Thaxton v Goodman.  She submitted that the case was automatically allocated to the multi-track and so costs should be assessed on the standard basis.  Fortunately for us she only read the parts that suited her client’s case.  Our instructed counsel submitted that the cases relied on by the claimant were not captured by PCR because they were small claims and so exempt.

The DDJ agreed with our counsel and concluded that this was a case caught by PCR.  Our costs were assessed at £ 1,681.92