The Court of Protection Rules 2007

Interpretation

155.—(1) In this Part—

(a) ‘additional liability’ means the percentage increase, the insurance premium, or the additional amount in respect of provision made by a membership organisation, as the case may be;

(b) ‘authorised court officer’ means any officer of the Supreme Court Costs Office, whom the Lord Chancellor has authorised to assess costs;

(c) ‘costs’ include fees, charges, disbursements, expenses, reimbursement permitted to a litigant in person, any additional liability incurred under a funding arrangement and any fee or reward charged by a lay representative for acting on behalf of a party in proceedings;

(d) ‘costs judge’ means a taxing Master of the Supreme Court;

(e) ‘costs officer’ means a costs judge or an authorised court officer;

(f) ‘detailed assessment’ means the procedure by which the amount of costs or remuneration is decided by a costs officer in accordance with Part 47 of the Civil Procedure Rules 1998 (which are applied to proceedings under these Rules, with modifications, by rule 160);

(g) ‘fixed costs’ are to be construed in accordance with the relevant practice direction;

(h) ‘fund’ includes any estate or property held for the benefit of any person or class of persons and any fund to which a trustee or personal representative is entitled in his capacity as such;

(i) ‘funding arrangement’ means an arrangement where a person has–

(i) entered into a conditional fee agreement or a collective conditional fee agreement which provides for a success fee within the meaning of section 58(2) of the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990(1);

(ii) taken out an insurance policy to which section 29 of the Access to Justice Act 1999 (recovery of insurance premiums by way of costs) applies; or

(iii) made an agreement with a membership organisation to meet his legal costs;

(j) ‘insurance premium’ means a sum of money paid or payable for insurance against the risk of incurring a costs liability in the proceedings, taken out after the event that is the subject matter of the claim;

(k) ‘membership organisation’ means a body prescribed for the purposes of section 30 of the Access to Justice Act 1999 (recovery where body undertakes to meet costs liabilities);

(l) ‘paying party’ means a party liable to pay costs;

(m) ‘percentage increase’ means the percentage by which the amount of a legal representative’s fee can be increased in accordance with a conditional fee agreement which provides for a success fee;

(n) ‘receiving party’ means a party entitled to be paid costs;

(o) ‘summary assessment’ means the procedure by which the court, when making an order about costs, orders payment of a sum of money instead of fixed costs or ‘detailed assessment’.

(2) The costs to which the rules in this Part apply include—

(a) where the costs may be assessed by the court, costs payable by a client to his solicitor; and

(b) costs which are payable by one party to another party under the terms of a contract, where the court makes an order for an assessment of those costs.

(3) Where advocacy or litigation services are provided to a client under a conditional fee agreement, costs are recoverable under this Part notwithstanding that the client is liable to pay his legal representative’s fees and expenses only to the extent that sums are recovered in respect of the proceedings, whether by way of costs or otherwise.

(4) In paragraph (3), the reference to a conditional fee agreement is to an agreement which satisfies all the conditions applicable to it by virtue of section 58 of the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990(2).

(1)

1990 c. 41.

(2)

Section 58 was substituted by section 27(1) of the Access to Justice Act 1999 (c. 22).