EWJ Dec 2023 - Journal - Page 8
Court Guidance on How to Deal with
the Thorny Issue of Expert Fees
His Honour Judge Bird, sitting at Manchester County Court, in the case of Northampton
General Hospital NHS Trust v Hoskin 2023,has issued a judgment which amounts to a
useful reminder for those on all sides as to how to resolve costs disputes concerning expert fees.
Expert fees often form a large proportion of the costs
involved in litigation, whether you act on behalf of the
Claimant or a Defendant. In these inflationary times
these issues have perhaps come into even greater
focus.
CPR provisions. Although as a lower court decision
this is not binding, it will nevertheless be persuasive.
This is likely to change the way costs are dealt with as
in recent times it has become common for receiving
parties to serve only MRO fee notes where an MRO is
used. Receiving parties who continue to resist providing the necessary breakdown will risk recovering
nothing for the disputed items.
This case concerned a costs dispute in a personal
injury claim inwhich the only remaining issues were
relating to a medical report from a cardiologist
claimed at £8,795 plus VAT and a medical report from
a consultant in obstetrics and gynaecology claimed at
£5,400 plus VAT. Invoices for each item were issued by
Premex Services Limited, a well-known medical reporting agency (MRO). The Defendant’s solicitors
asked for a breakdown of these invoices in order to
establish how much of the fees charged related to the
services provided by Premex and how much related
to the medical expert’s fees. Premex rejected this request stating that the invoice amounts were both reasonable and proportionate so there was no need for a
breakdown.
It is understood the decision is under appeal so watch
this space for any further developments!
Author
Kelvin Farmaner
Trethowans LLP
Partner
15 June 2023
HHJ Bird reviewed the well-known 2002 case of
Stringer v Copley in which His Honor Judge Cook decided in what was another case concerning medical
agency fees “it is important that their invoices (or fee
notes) should distinguish between the medical fee and
their own charges, the latter being sufficiently particularised to enable the cost officer to be satisfied they do
not exceed the reasonable and proportionate cost of
the solicitors doing the work”. HHJ Cook also went
on to say in that case that he was “satisfied that there
is no point of principle which precludes the fees of a
medical agency being recoverable between the parties, provided it is demonstrated that their charges do
not exceed the reasonable and proportionate costs of
the work if it had been done by solicitors.” This case
was also referred to in later cases as “trite law”, although it was noted that the decision did not refer to
any CPR provision then in force. HHJ Bird noted the
governing provision now is CPR PD 47, and in particular paragraph 5.2, which states that a party on assessment must serve copies of the fee notes of any
expert in respect of fees claimed in the bill. Premex is
not an expert so this is not complied with by serving
a copy of their fee note alone. A party must therefore
provide the fee note of the expert instructed and,
where such costs are claimed, details of the costs of any
MRO.
Dr Essam Kamel
Consultant Psychiatrist
Medical Member of First Tier Tribunal, Mental health 2013, CCT in Old Age, General Adult and
Substance Misuse Psychiatry 2008, MSc in Psychiatric Research, University College London 2007,
Advanced Diploma in Family Interventions, Middlesex University 2006, MRCPsych Royal College
of Psychiatrists, London SW1X 8PG 2002,DPM – Diploma in Neuro psychiatry, Dublin, Ireland 2000.
Dr Essam Kamel is dually qualified in General Adult and Old Age Psychiatry with
endorsement in Addiction Psychiatry and has worked as a consultant psychiatrist since 2008. He is a competent,
caring clinician with extensive experience in managing people with a wide range of mental disorders including
writing medicolegal reports.
He has full UK training experience approved by the RCPsych, basic psychiatric training was at Guys and St Thomas
and higher training was at UCL and Royal Free-associated hospitals. He is a medical member of First Tier Tribunal.
Experience in Medico-legal work
• Experience in Medico-legal work:
• Working in the court diversion scheme preparing reports for the court for the mentally ill offender (schizophrenia,
substance misuse, personality disorder)
• Cross examining evidence through his role in the Ministry of Justice
• Working with the Medical Foundation alongside solicitors and GPs to support victims of torture (PTSD,
Depression, anxiety, transcultural psychiatry)
• Family work and assessing parental skills
• Capacity assessment and DoLS assessments and reports (organic brain disease - including dementia -with
challenging behaviour)
• Training and experience in writing medico-legal reports
He has furnished medico-legal reports is in the following areas:
• Immigration cases mental disorder (dementia, PTSD)
• Occupational health cases (stress, anxiety, bullying at work)
• Family cases: Parental capacity in family court proceeding, (mental illness, personality disorder, addiction)
• Negligence cases
• Older adult cases: Retrospective capacity, testamentary capacity, negligence
• Forensic cases: fitness to plead/to be interviewed, magistrate and Crown Court reports
Contact Details
Tel: 07958 564 371 - Email: essamkk@hotmail.com
Area of Work: Nationwide
Comment: This decision is not new law but rather a
confirmation that the position as it was understood
back in 2002 remains true today under the current
EXPERT WITNESS JOURNAL
6
DECEMBER 2023