Can someone explain what reserve cost and costs of discovery mean?

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bedpanmop

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As part of a personal injury claim which was settled out of court my husband was awarded a sum of money plus costs to include reserve costs and the costs of discovery. What do these two terms mean? Does it cover the legals costs or is he liable for them??
 
he was awarded money plus costs, therefore he does not pay legal costs. He may have to pay some small top up on experts fees though. For example if a witness charged more than what is usually allowed, he will have to pay the balance.
 
bedpanmop said:
As part of a personal injury claim which was settled out of court my husband was awarded a sum of money plus costs to include reserve costs and the costs of discovery. What do these two terms mean? Does it cover the legals costs or is he liable for them??
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He needs to ask his solicitor.

I read the post as there was an agreement made ( he was not awarded anything). It included costs - but was that all costs ? ( aka solicitor/client costs) or party and party costs?

The costs allowed by a Court/agreed between parties don't always cover the total costs incurred by a plaintiff.

Solicitor and client costs: Solicitor and client costs are those costs that a client is obliged to pay his solicitor which are not recoverable under Party and Party costs.

mf
 
On the matters of reserved costs and discovery.

Sometimes issues arise in court prior to trial of the main issue. In those matters it would not be unusual for the issue of liability for the costs of that preliminary matter to be reserved pending trial of the main issue. In other words the question of liability for the reserved costs element is dealt with finally by the judge in the main trial.

Discovery is a process whereby a party in possession of material relative to another party involved in litigation can be ordered by a court to deliver up the specified material. Discovery orders are not to be had for the asking and a proper foundation for such an application has to be made out. For example, a party might seek an order for discovery of medical records or records relating to maintenance of machinery and such like.

I suspect that the reserved costs element here actually relates to the process of discovery.

This was a negotiated settlement. There is nothing to prevent the parties agreeing that the defendant will pay the reserved costs element. The solicitors notes of the settlement terms should clarify that.

Hope that explains it all...........
 
Thanks DirectDevil for your reply. It would appear that the legal costs have been covered with the exception of our solicitors involvement with the original application process to the PIAB which was how we came to end up with a very long & protracted legal case.

Is it normal that we would have to cover the costs for the PIAB because they are all part of the same case?
 
PIAB costs are not recoverable from any party, other than the Applicant (you). However, if the settlement was a decent figure, it seems pennypinching and greedy for solicitor to be asking you for PIAB costs. Most solicitors would charge €1000/1500 plus VAT for submitting the form and dealing with PIAB correspondence.
 
Thanks both dazza21ie & Ravima for your very helpful replies. However dazza21ie it would appear the solicitor is pennypinching & greedy! Still at least you have given us some indication of roughly how much this cost might be to us.

Thanks once again for your replies
 
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