CFA Lite

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The Court of Appeal recently decided what could be a very significant case and one which could offer some hope if you have cases where there are potential breaches of the CFA Regulations 2, 3 & 4 (for example, Myatt or Garrett problems).

In Jones v Wrexham Borough Council the Court held that there was no reason why it should not look at the whole package produced by the Solicitor i.e.the CFA agreement, the Rule 15 letter explaining to the client the effect of the agreement, and indeed the insurance policy, in order to ascertain whether as between the client and the Solicitor the proper understanding was that the client would not be liable for any own side costs whatever the result of the proceedings except to the extent that they could be recovered from the other side or under an insurance policy.

If on consideration of all those documents (not just the CFA) the Solicitor had produced an arrangement under which the client would not be liable for any own side costs or expenses other than those that are actually recovered from the other side or from Insurers, the CFA could be said to be a "CFA Lite" and therefore Regulation 3A of the CFA Regulations as amended would apply. That regulation (3A) specifically states that Regulations 2, 3 and 4 do not apply to a Conditional Fee Agreement to which it applies.

If you can establish that the CFA document, your client care letter and any insurance policy create a "CFA Lite" then you will defeat arguments about breaches of regulations like the ones in Myatt (Regulation 4(2)(c)) and Garrett (Regulation 4(2)(e)(ii)).

The Conditional Fee Agreements (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2003 came into force on 2nd June 2003 and for CFA's after that date it will be worth looking at the Agreement and Rule 15 letter, etc., in order to establish whether you have a "CFA Lite".

If you or any of your colleagues at would like to have a chat about this or any other costs queries please don't hesitate to contact me.

Andrew
A Neat Legal Services - Law Costs Draftsmen