Action: five law firms, trade union and claims handler seek order on top of indemnity costs

Five law firms and a miners' union are seeking a wasted costs order against a City law firm after its application for a group litigation order (GLO) on behalf of 64 miners was dismissed as 'a gross abuse of the system'.


The application against City firm Greene Wood & McLean is being made jointly by the five firms, Ashton Morton Slack, Moss Solicitors, Beresfords, Wake Smith and Raleys. The Union of Democratic Mineworkers (UDM) and claims handler Vendside are also seeking wasted costs.



Last month, Sir Michael Turner in the High Court said Greene Wood & McLean had been 'inept' and 'heavy handed' in the way it had pursued the 'unnecessary' application for the GLO against the respondents over their work in the miners' compensation scheme (see [2006] Gazette, 1 June, 4). Greene Wood strongly refuted the attack, saying it had only brought the litigation after careful consideration of all alternatives.



Sir Michael has also ordered costs on the indemnity basis and an interim costs payment of £600,000 by the miners in favour of the seven respondents.


The sufficiency of after-the-event insurance was a key issue in the case and in a letter sent to one of the defendants and seen by the Gazette, the miners' Isle of Man-based insurer, Templeton, appears to repudiate its cover in the aftermath. Templeton's Philip Maule said the matter was with its solicitors.


Greene Wood & McLean senior partner Wynne Edwards said the firm had not received any notice from the insurer that it had declared the policy void. He added that his firm had written to the insurer on two occasions 'asking for their comments'. He declined to comment on the wasted costs application.


Richard Stockdale, the partner at Leeds firm Brooke North acting for Vendside and the UDM, said: 'The court was told that there was after-the-event insurance, but the insurers have now repudiated the policy. So it leaves completely unanswered the question of how these figures are to be paid. They have not been paid yet. Everybody is considering the position.'