Court Of Appeal Rules Pre-Jackson CFA Was Validly Transferred

On appeal by the Claimant, the Court of Appeal has found that a claim involving a pre-1 April 2013 CFA agreement could be validly transferred to a new firm after 1 April 2013 and the success fee would remain recoverable.

Facts

The Claimant brought a claim for damages when a defective pavement caused her to trip over and sustain injury to her ligaments, whilst she was attending the Defendant hospital. The Claimant instructed Baker Rees Solicitors ("Baker Rees") to bring a claim on her behalf and she entered into a Conditional Fee Agreement, which provided for a success fee, with Baker Rees on 2 December 2011.

Some time in early 2013, Baker Rees decided that it was no-longer financially viable to continue their personal injury practice and so they wrote to the Claimant on 22 March 2013 advising that they were transferring her case to Neil Hudgell Solicitors. The Claimant was told that unless she advised otherwise, her case would be automatically transferred on 25