Appeals to the Court of Appeal

The Court of Appeal deals with complex cases arising from appeals in cases from both the Upper Tribunals and Civil Courts. If a First Tier Tribunal decision cannot be agreed by either party, it can be appealed to the Upper Tribunal for reconsideration of the case.

Further disagreement of the dispute can result in an appeal to the Court of Appeal being made following permission to appeal being granted (this will require payment of further Courts fees to proceed). A Judge will usually grant permission for an appeal if they believe you have realistic prospects of succeeding, or if there is another clear and strong reason for making the appeal. It is the responsibility of the Appellant to explain why the decision of a lower Court was unjust or wrong.

There will be a time limit for making an appeal, in some cases, this can be as short as seven days; however, the time limit for making an appeal against a High Court decision is usually 21 days, and 28 days for an Upper Tribunal decision.

Costs of an Appeal

Making a an appeal will inevitably lead to increased costs of litigation and the requirement to pay further Court fees.

When making an appeal, the Appellant will be required to pay a Court fee of £1,292. In some circumstances, the Appellant will be entitled to help in paying a Court fee. In these circumstances, a Court Fee Remission form should be submitted to the Court.

If the appeal is successful, the Appellant may be entitled to recover the costs of the appeal. The costs recoverable by the successful Appellant may include Court fees, reasonable disbursements and hourly rates for time spent working on the application appeal and in attending Court Hearings.

Although Costs Orders can be set by the lower Courts, the Court of Appeal has the power to have previous costs ordered set aside, and to make alternative Orders for costs.  This could result in any payments on account or assessed costs having to be returned in full to the Appellant party, with interest payable in addition.

Respondent Costs under Practice Direction 52C

If permission to appeal is refused, the Respondent to an appeal to the Court of Appeal will not usually be granted costs, save for in certain circumstances, such as if they are required to attend a hearing or file submissions.

Under Section 20 of Practice direction 52C:

“(1) There will normally be no order for the recovery of the costs of a respondent’s written statement. In most cases an application for permission to appeal will be determined without the need for the respondent to attend a hearing. In such circumstances an order for costs will not normally be made in favour of a respondent who voluntarily attends a hearing.

(2) If the court directs the respondent to file submissions or attend a hearing, it will normally award costs to the respondent if permission is refused.”

Furthermore, a costs order can be made against a Respondent to an appeal to the Court of Appeal for unreasonable behaviour.

(b) A respondent who unreasonably opposes an application for an extension of time may be ordered to pay the costs of the application.

Recovering Costs of an Appeal

In some circumstances, the Court of Appeal will grant a summary assessment of the costs to be awarded to either the Appellant or the Respondent to a case.

During a Summary Assessment, the Court will review the costs item by item and will usually grant costs which are necessary, reasonable and proportionate.

If the costs of the appeal cannot be agreed or are significant in amount, they will usually make an order to proceed to detailed assessment.

To initiate detailed assessment proceedings, the Receiving Party (the party to whom the costs order was made in favour of) will be required to draft a bill of costs and serve it upon the Paying Party alongside a Notice of Commencement. The bill of costs should detail the costs which the receiving party seeks to recover from the paying party on an item-by-item basis to allow scrutiny.

If the Paying Party do not agree with any of the costs listed within the bill, they should prepare and send their Points of Dispute within 21 days to negotiate the level of cots. The Receiving Party may further negotiate their position using Points of Reply and parties should attempt to reach an agreement before proceeding to a Detailed Assessment Hearing to avoid costs of detailed assessment escalating.

How can ARC Costs Assist?

If you are the Respondent and have been granted a costs order under Practice Direction 52C, or if you are the successful Appellant to a Court of Appeal case, we can assist by preparing your Bill of Costs and Points of Reply in response to any Points of Dispute.

Alternatively, if a costs order has been made against you under Practice Direction 52C, or for any other reason, we can assist by preparing your Points of Dispute to help contest the level of costs being made against you.

Our team of costs experts can be contacted by email at info@arccosts.co.uk, or by telephone on 01204 397302. For more information on legal costs, please find out more about our speciality areas of expertise and our services on our legal costs page.

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