Key Facts
- •Application to approve or revise Stage 1 Costs Budgets.
- •Defendants' application for permission to rely on amended costs budget.
- •Claimant: Kigen (UK) Limited
- •Defendants: Thales DIS France SA & Thales DIS France SAS
- •Substantial sums at stake.
- •Disputes regarding the reasonableness and proportionality of costs budgets.
- •Issue regarding a fixed fee arrangement between Thales and its solicitors.
Legal Principles
Reasonableness and proportionality of costs budgets.
CPR Part 44.3(5) and 44.4(3); PD3E paragraph 5
Court's discretion in costs budgeting, particularly in complex commercial disputes.
CPR Part 44
Outcomes
Defendants' Amended Costs Budget Application granted.
Application unopposed; prompt correction of errors; Defendants to bear costs of rectifying errors.
Kigen's Stage 1 Costs Budget approved at Thales's proposed amount (excluding an error).
Thales's offered amount deemed generous; considering the complexity and sums involved, a lighter touch approach adopted.
Thales's Stage 1 Costs Budget approved.
Kigen's objections addressed and dismissed; Thales's figures significantly lower than Kigen's.
Thales's retainer with solicitors not ordered to be disclosed.
No properly formulated application from Kigen.
Costs of the Stage 1 Costs Budgets Application to be decided after further submissions.
Judge's provisional view and need for further submissions.