Costs – Interim Payments And Summary Assessments

Costs orders in a party's favour are, of course, always welcome (by that party). The taxation process, however, can be long and involved; on occasion potentially resulting in a party having to wait many months to recover monies due to it pursuant to a costs order.

In the recent case of Re Centre Trustees (CI) Limited [2009] JRC 133, the Royal Court examined whether the time had now come for the courts in Jersey to award interim payments on account of costs.

Express Power

Such a power is expressly provided for in the Civil Procedure Rules in England, but there is no equivalent in Jersey. It was noted by the Royal Court that in addition to the specific English procedural rule, the High Court had an inherent power in any event to make orders for interim payments on account of costs, as part of its inherent jurisdiction to control its own process. The court found that there was no reason to presume that the inherent jurisdiction of the Royal Court was any narrower