Infrastructure Services Luxembourg S.A.R.L. & Anor v The Kingdom of Spain

On a summary assessment of costs, the court must examine the costs statement as a whole, including the hourly rates claimed, the allocation of work among fee-earners, attendance, correspondence and time spent on documents. The importance of the dispute and the amount in issue may justify limited additional headroom, but do not justify rates substantially above the applicable guideline rates. Where the statement is materially excessive, the court may make a substantial overall reduction and assess a lower sum.

The claimants sought their costs in proceedings against the Kingdom of Spain. The principle that costs were payable was not materially disputed. The issue was the amount to be allowed on a straightforward summary assessment of the costs statement, including the claimed hourly rates and the reasonableness of the work recorded.

1. Summary assessment. The court treated the matter as a simple, straightforward summary assessment of the costs statement.
2. Hourly rates. The claimed rates, ranging from £710 to £1,170 for senior fee-earners and including a trainee solicitor or paralegal rate substantially above the guideline rate, were two to two and a half times the applicable London 1 band A rate. The significance of the dispute and the sum in issue warranted only a small amount of additional headroom.
3. Work undertaken. The statement included excessive time on letters and emails, excessive attendance by grade A fee-earners, additional time beyond the hearing, and excessive hours on document-related work. The court considered that the brief would also be reduced if the matter proceeded to taxation.
4. Order. Starting from the view that the statement was about twice as large as it ought to be, and taking account of the further deficiencies, the court made a substantial reduction and allowed costs of £75,000.