HT-2023-000202 - [2025] EWHC 285 (TCC)

These proceedings are, by the Order of the Court, subject to Costs Management. A half day Costs Management hearing took place, at the end of which there was an application by a number of Defendants for their costs of the Costs Management hearing. Such applications are not routine. Given the potential significance of the point to practitioners, it seemed appropriate to hand down a perfected version of the short ex tempore judgment granting the application. This is that judgment. I have included my ex tempore decision on the general points advanced by the parties, but I have excluded the nuts and bolts of the phase-by-phase assessment of costs. I have added a summary of the outcome that formed part of my decision-making during the course of the hearing so as to make sense of the application for costs.