It is a common occurrence for the Deputy to be involved with the Protected Party’s ongoing litigation claim. This could include calculation of the interim payments on account of damages and providing information to the litigation solicitor to assist with the preparation of the Schedule of Loss.
Unfortunately, these costs are not recoverable within the Deputy’s general management Bill of Costs and will be disallowed on assessment.
Master Howarth directly addressed this issue during an oral hearing in 2016, the view was taken that where the litigator had requested information to support the interim payment application in ongoing litigation and details to assist with the preparation of the Schedule of Loss were not general management charges, this is also supported by the Professional Deputy Costs OPG Guidance publication of July 2016.
This does not mean that these costs cannot be recovered. It is advisable for the Deputy to outline their costs to the litigation solicitor to ensure that these are recovered within the litigation bill of costs.
Georgia Clarke, Senior Costs Draftsperson