Litigation No S68 letter - now costs not covered by award

Hannaho

Despite asking for an estimate of fees several times, I never got an estiamte or S.68 letter. I was told initially that the case would be no foal not fee. Now settlement is likely in the case, but solicitor says that in addition to the amount of his costs paid by the other party, I will owe him more fees. I don't get this. I paid up front for all the expert reports. I paid the costs of stamping of all the doucments in the HC. Can someone explain what costs I can possibly owe, if the other side is being all his costs, and I have paid up front for reports etc?

nuac

Mod
Is this the action against your builder, surveyor and engineer mentioned in previous posts here?.
If so, would be amazed that any solicitor would take such an action on a NFNF basis.
Such actions are nearly always difficult to run. I would not be surprised if issues arose which were not envisaged by the solicitor when taking on the case.

Hannaho

Hi! NUAC, thanks for your reply. Yes, they did take it on on that basis. They said it was an extremely winnable case. Every time I have asked about fees - 3 times in total, they have never replied. Except on first day I met them they said that the only way I would have to pay fees, was if the amount awarded, was below the High Court amount, and then I would only have to pay Circuit Court costs. They never provided me with any S.68 letter or details of estimated costs. The solicitors for the other side are willing to settle, but do they award full costs?

Mr. Incognito

Hi there

They really should have sent a Section 68 letter which sets out their fees.

Outside of legal costs, which would be paid by the other side is outlay.

Outlay is things like the PIAB Application fee, Doctors Fees, Stamping on the Personal Injuries Summons etc. This outlay is known as special damages. Sometimes the other side will cover it in a negotiated settlement, sometimes they will not. If you win the case it will not be covered and you would be liabile for these fees incurred on your behalf.

Hannaho

Thanks, Mr. Incognito. They actually asked me to pay all the stamping fees for Court documentsin the High Court, as they didn't want to lose out, in the unlikely event I didn't win. I have paid all my expert reports up front. The only one remaining to pay is the Expert surveyor re devaluation of my house, and I haven't received his report yet. I will owe them for telephone and postage etc. - but I can't imagine that will run into thousands - max a thousand or so for a case of 14 months duration - is there anything else I need to know re costs/fees. I had visions of them taking 20k from my settlement - it's been so stressful that even if we got twice the amount of settlement suggested, it would not be enough!

ohnonotgmail

Has the solicitor told you what these additional fees are?

Mr. Incognito

Just ask them for a breakdown of fees and outlay to date.

Shouldnt be a problem.