High cost is one of the few complaints that the opponents of the Leveson inquiry, mostly pols with strong Murdoch connections, has been able to raise in attempts to contain the judicial investigation into the issues raised by the exposure of the acts of News of the World. To no avail. Lord Justice Leveson continues.
Now the questions of high costs is being raised in another court, the one where victims of phone hacking are bringing their civil complaints and seeking damages. This time, however, it being raised, and more, turned into an order by the judge, Justice Vos.
This time, in the interest of fairness to.....News of the World...and to the victims alike.
IANAL, still less a solicitor, barrister, or QC (Silk) and cannot elucidate the issue from a US or GB and Wales legal point of view.I thought that this (fair use protected, I hope ) rearranged brief extract from this article from a professional lawyers' journal might be of interest to those who are or are law-curious, as I am.
In response to claims that costs in cases that have so far settled on the court steps have reached £10m so far.....High Court judge Mr Justice Vos has ordered firms involved in the wave of phone-hacking cases to find a more efficient method of working or risk their clients [the hackees, BSRH] being forced into a group litigation order [GLO] represented by a single firm.
snip
Currently there are four firms acting for dozens of clients who allege that their mobile phones were hacked by defunct News International tabloid News of the World....Several firms are queuing up to bring [additional, BSRH] claims against the now defunct News of the World. They includes [author's emphasis] Harbottle & Lewis [and four others.]....“He [Vos J] is threatening to introduce a GLO.....It’s the sword hanging over the lawyers’ heads" [according to the source].The firms have been given until April to hammer out an arrangement that would streamline the cases and avoid unnecessary costs.
Why?
A source close to the case said:
The judge wants to be fair to both sides. He recognises that they [News International] have done some wrongs but he still needs to be fair....[However] There are concerns that forcing the claimants to join a GLO would cause conflicts for firms while also raising issues with client loyalty.
Meanwhile, in a cost-saving move, News International was taking steps to take control of its legal spend by instructing [the one firm, BSRH] Linklaters on all phone-hacking claims
6:24 AM PT: Not exactly an update, but he link to the source that I failed to add in the conventional manner: http://www.thelawyer.com/.... It is a live link in my comment below.