Can a company recover costs as a litigant in person?
I act for a claimant. The defendant company represented itself as a litigant in person and is seeking to recover costs. It does not have an in-house legal department and a lay employee is representing it. Can it recover costs?
Civil Procedure Rule (CPR) 46.5(6)(a) states that a company acting without legal representation is regarded as a litigant in person.
CPR 46.5(4) prescribes that the amount of costs allowed to a litigant in person depends on the litigant in person proving:
- financial loss, or
- where financial loss cannot be proven, an amount for the time reasonably spent doing the work
The prescribed rate is set out in Practice Direction 46.
CPR 46.5(2) provides that the litigant in person will not be able to recover more than two-thirds of the costs and all the disbursements which would have been allowed if the company had been represented.
For more information, see the Civil Procedure Rules.
Disclaimer
While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information in this article, it does not constitute legal advice and cannot be relied upon as such. The Law Society does not accept any responsibility for liabilities arising as a result of reliance upon the information given.
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