Cancrie Investments Limited v Zulfiqur al Tanveer Haider (Costs)
[2024] EWHC 2302 (Comm)
Ana Tomic & Anor v The Residences by Damoor Limited & Anor
5 June 2024
[2024] EWHC 1348 (Comm)
High Court
Someone broke a promise to the court about money. The court made them pay for causing trouble, but also considered if the other side was completely fair in their actions, reducing the total amount of money the person had to pay.
Key Facts
- •Claimants (Ana Tomic and Jens-Peter Stein) alleged their former friend, the Second Defendant (Anthony James Camille Cotran), and his company (The Residences by Damoor Limited) diverted funds from renovation payments.
- •A freezing injunction was initially dismissed, with Mr. Cotran providing an undertaking to deposit 50% of the net proceeds from the sale of his home into a QIB account.
- •Mr. Cotran breached the undertaking by failing to deposit funds into the correct account and making unauthorized withdrawals.
- •Claimants applied for orders to secure compliance with the undertaking.
- •A modified undertaking was eventually agreed, transferring funds to Mr. Cotran's solicitors' account.
- •The court then considered the costs incurred by both parties across three separate hearings.
Legal Principles
The court has the power to enforce undertakings given to it.
Section 37, Senior Courts Act 1981
In enforcing undertakings, the court considers whether there is sufficient arguability of a breach, rather than definitively determining whether a breach occurred.
Koza Limited v Koza Altin Isletmeleri [2020] EWCA Civ 1018
CPR 44.3 and 44.4 govern the court's discretion in awarding costs, considering the conduct of parties and proportionality.
CPR 44.3 and 44.4
Indemnity costs are awarded in circumstances where the conduct of the parties or other particular circumstances of the case are out of the norm.
Excelsior Commercial and Industrial Holdings Ltd [2002] EWCA Civ 879
Outcomes
Costs for Schedules 1 and 2 (October 2023 and December 2023 hearings) awarded to Claimants on an indemnity basis, but reduced due to unreasonable expenses.
Mr. Cotran's unreasonable conduct in ignoring requests for information and breaching the undertaking.
Costs for Schedule 3 (April 2024 hearing) awarded to Claimants on a standard basis.
While Mr. Cotran initially breached the undertaking, his subsequent cooperation and the Claimants' unreasonable conduct in pursuing certain issues.
Total costs awarded to Claimants: £21,000
Summary assessment based on the analysis of each schedule, considering reasonableness and proportionality.
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