Edwin Coe LLP comments on Supreme Court appeal in Coventry v Lawrence judgment

The long awaited judgment in Coventry v Lawrence was handed down by the Supreme Court on Wednesday 22 July. The appeal was dismissed. It had sought to say that the Access to Justice Act 1999 allowing recovery of CFA success fees and ATE premiums was incompatible with Article 6 ECHR in restricting access to the court for a defendant. Whilst a declaration of incompatibility was not expected many stakeholders thought the Court might subject the success fee and the ATE premium to the test of proportionality. In the event the Court also rejected this argument although by a majority of 5:2. The result is that success fees and ATE premiums for proceedings commenced before April 2013 remain recoverable and are not subject to the proportionality test.

David Greene, Edwin Coe litigation partner commented “Practitioners will be pleased to resolve this issue. The old system is in run-off post Jackson but the issues are still significant in the run off and in the areas of litigation, such as insolvency, where the old system continues to apply. The test for the Court in considering incompatibility is not whether the legislation is fair and had flaws but whether it was a proportionate way of achieving the legitimate aim of providing access to justice for claimants in the light of the then cuts in legal aid. Certainly many claimants lawyers will be breathing a sigh of relief at the result and the effect of it on their remaining pre-Jackson cases.”

END