Olivia Chaffin-Laird successful following 5-day trial
Olivia Chaffin-Laird successfully acted for the Defendant, a head-office company within a private international group, instructed by Natalie Thorpe of Shakespeare Martineau, in a recent 5 day trial.
The Claimant, a former senior executive of the group, claimed over £100,000 for services provided after he stepped down. He relied on a 17 part work schedule running to more than 7,000 pages, which claimed over 1,100 hours.
Following Olivia’s cross-examination on the time claimed and the documents said to support it:
- The Court found the Claimant’s evidence on quantum “very poor”.
- The Court held the schedule to be “manifestly exaggerated”.
- The award was reduced to 22.5% of the sum claimed, almost exactly the figure the Defendant had offered before proceedings were issued.
On costs, the Court departed from the general rule. In doing so it adopted Olivia’s submission that the time claimed showed “inconsistency, imprecision and embellishment”. The Claimant was awarded none of his costs and was ordered to pay 70% of the Defendant’s costs.
The case is a pointed reminder of the weight courts give to reasonable pre-action offers and to proportionality. As the Judge observed, there is little sense in spending £100,000 to recover £10,000.
Olivia is grateful to Natalie and the team at Shakespeare Martineau for their excellent work in preparing the case for trial.
