Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill

132A: Before Clause 43, insert the following new Clause— ““Qualified one-way cost-shifting and uplift in general damages (1) Before making an order to commence sections 43, 45 or 46 the Lord Chancellor must— (a) establish a one-way cost-shifting for civil litigation in accordance with this section; and (b) increase the quantum of general damages for pain suffering and loss of amenity by 10% above the levels awarded immediately before this Part comes into force. (2) A ““one-way cost-shifting for civil litigation”” means a regime that applies to a claimant regardless of means, where that person has entered into a funding arrangement by which he or she receives legal services to pursue proceedings against a defendant covered by insurance or self-insurance. (3) Subject to subsection (4), the general rule that the court will order an unsuccessful claimant to pay the costs of a successful claimant shall not apply to a claimant within the regime. (4) The court may apply the general rule where the court finds— (a) the claim was fraudulent; (b) the claim was so unreasonable that it was or could have been struck out on the grounds that it was frivolous, vexatious or an abuse of process; or (c) in respect of a claim for damages, the cost consequences under Part 36 of the Civil Procedure Rules apply, save that the proportion of a defendant's costs payable by a claimant within the regime, whether fixed or assessed, shall be limited to 10% of the damages awarded to the claimant. (5) In the event that a claimant within the regime discontinues his action, the general rule shall not apply, unless the court on application finds the action to have been fraudulent, frivolous or vexatious. (6) In this section, a ““funding arrangement”” means an arrangement where the claimant has— (a) entered into a conditional fee agreement or a collective conditional fee agreement which provides for a success fee within the meaning of section 58(2) of the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990; or (b) taken out an insurance policy to which section 58C of the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990 (recovery of insurance premiums by way of costs) applies.””