 |  |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
|  | |  | |
Measures must also be taken against possible abuse by one party seeking a wasted
costs order against the other side's lawyers as a means of intimidation or oppression or
of depriving the other side of their lawyers familiar with the case. Accordingly, the
rules should provide, both in relation to applications for a "show cause" order and at
the stage of deciding whether to make a wasted costs order, that :-
(a)
applications against the other side's lawyers should only be made at the
conclusion of the proceedings;
(b)
threats of such proceedings should be treated as improper if made with a view to
pressurising or intimidating the other party or his lawyers; and,
(c)
any party who wishes to put the other side's lawyers on notice of a potential
claim for wasted costs should refrain from doing so unless he is able to
particularise the misconduct on the part of such lawyers alleged to be the reason
for incurring wasted costs and to identify the evidence or other materials relied
on in support.
The court should also be sensitive to cases where a practitioner is precluded by legal
professional privilege from giving his full answer to any such application, so that in
such cases, the court should not make an order unless, proceeding with extreme care, it
is satisfied that there is nothing the practitioner could say, if unconstrained, to resist
the order; and that it is in all the circumstances fair to make the order.
|
 |
|