£75,000 IN LAW COSTS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21979, 14 June 1933, Page 12

£75,000 IN LAW COSTS

“LAMENTABLE” AMOUNT CASE OCCUPIES 43 DAYS. Costs which one of the judges described as "lamentable" were mentioned last month at the dismissal of an appeal that had then lasted 27 days in-the Court of Appeal, sitting in London. It is estimated that the complete litigation, including the original trial, extending over 43 days in the King’s Bench Division, has cost about £75,000. The appeal was by Radiovisor (Foreign and Colonial), Ltd., against a.judgment of JVIr Justice Lawrence dismissing an action in which they claimed £200,000 damages and the return or cancellation of 120,000 £1 shares from Radiovisor Parent, Ltd. By the time the suit reached the Court of Appeal the bill of costs was £45,000, and documents weighing over a ton had to be put before the court. Then Sir William Jowitt, K.C., spent 18 days in opening the appeal, and spoke more than half a million words. , Sir Stafford Cripps, K.C., opposed the appeal, and Mr Trevor Watson, K.C., a leading Chancery patent expert, was also briefed in the case. Even the floor of the court had to be utilised to accommodate some of the voluminous documents. Leading counsel earned fees at the rate of more than £lO5 a day. Indeed, it is said that most of the counsel engaged in the dispute will make as much out of this single case as a judge gets in a year’s salary. The Foreign and Colonial Company alleged misrepresentation in the disposal of, the foreign rights in a selenium light bridge. Their case was that the bridge did not yet fulfil a representation that it was commercially capable of mass production.

When it was announced, that the appeal would be dismissed Mr Swann, counsel for the Foreign and Colonial Company, applied for a stay of execution pending a further appeal, and having regard to the large amount of costs involved. Lord Justice Scrutton: It is difficult to upset the decision of a court that has found no fraud. It is even more difficult to upset the decisions of two courts. Mr Swann: It is difficult, but not impossible.

Refusing to grant a stay of execution, Lord Justice Scrutton made the observation that the amount of the costs was lamentable. In his judgment, he remarked that the Foreign and Colonial Company bad enormous difficulties to get over before fhey could succeed in reversing the view ->f Mr Justice Lawrence, who saw the witnesses. Making a false statement through want of care was a / different thing from fraud. Unjustified but honest optimism was not fraud. Lord Justice Greer and Lord Justice Slesser concurred.