Successful appeal on costs in the Court of Appeal (Deepchand and another v Sooben)

Article summary

Dispute Resolution analysis: This is a rare example of a successful appeal on costs before the Court of Appeal. Mr Deepchand and Lambeth Solicitors (the appellants) appealed a decision to make no order for costs following Mr Sooben’s application for a non-party costs order. The court had found that as the application could not be determined proportionately, it could not proceed. In the first instance the court held that this meant that the outcome was neutral and so the correct order was no order as to costs. On appeal, this was not found to be the case. The respondent had sought to obtain a non-party costs order for up to £50,000 but failed to do so. It was therefore clear that they were the unsuccessful party and the court therefore was in a position to make an order for costs. The appropriate order was that the appellants should be entitled to their costs of the unsuccessful application....