Senior -Milne, R (On the Application Of) v Her Majesty's Treasury

Costs in judicial review proceedings are at the discretion of the court. Where an adjournment has unnecessarily caused costs to be thrown away, the court may make a proportionate costs order. The defendant may also recover the reasonable costs of attending a costs hearing and preparing a detailed response where that work was necessary in the proceedings.

HM Treasury applied for three tranches of costs arising from judicial review proceedings brought by the claimant. The application concerned costs thrown away by an adjournment, the costs of the present hearing, and the costs of an acknowledgement of service prepared after permission had been refused on the papers.

The claimant made limited submissions on costs and argued that the defendant’s response had gone into excessive detail. The court therefore had to determine the appropriate discretionary costs order and the recoverability of the work undertaken by HM Treasury.

1. Costs discretion. Costs were at the discretion of the court. The court considered a fair order to be the appropriate approach to the three distinct tranches.
2. Costs thrown away. The adjournment had caused the first tranche of costs to be incurred. As the claimant had been unable to justify the adjournment, HM Treasury was awarded 50 per cent of the £4,669 claimed.
3. Attendance at hearing. HM Treasury was entitled to the costs of attending the present hearing, including the costs issue arising from the adjournment. Those costs were summarily assessed at £1,734.
4. Acknowledgement of service. The acknowledgement of service was a detailed document, and it was necessary for HM Treasury to respond in detail to the claim. The court awarded the full sum claimed, £6,804, and summarily assessed it as fair and reasonable.
5. The judgment also records that the court was minded to consider an extended civil restraint order, subject to any further submissions. No final determination on that issue appears in the supplied text.