In a ground-breaking decision in the High Court, a costs cap has recently been ordered under the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR). The costs cap is to apply both retrospectively and prospectively up to the end of the trial. The order was made in the Nationwide Organ Group Litigation (A B & Others v Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust [2003] EWHC 1034). The judge held that in group litigation there is a clear risk that costs may become disproportionate and excessive and therefore the costs cap order was necessary to keep costs within bounds. However there seems no reason why the decision should not be followed by judges in other large-scale litigation.
Background
Since the inception of the CPR in April 1999, parties are required to provide the court and each other with estimates as to the likely costs to be incurred in conducting a matter. The estimates must be provided to the court at certain stages of the litigation and, until recently, have received little attention. In recent
