Judge warns lawyers over costs claim cases ; ;Litigation solicitors were this week chastised by one of the countrys most senior costs judges for misusing costs procedures introduced by Lord Woolfs civil justice reforms last year.

;The rebuke, issued by senior costs judge Master Peter Hurst, said the new costs-only procedure which allows parties to issue costs-only applications without issuing full proceedings to recover costs appeared to be misused by both claimants and defendants.

;Master Hurst intimated that claimant solicitors appeared to be using the procedure as a threat by informing insurers that if costs were not agreed or paid within 14 days, they would move to issue proceedings.

He added that in one court there had been a bulk issue of more than 200 costs-only applications.

;At the same time, defendants were making unreasonably low offers on costs and were withholding their necessary agreement to deal with the issue via the costs-only procedure.

;The number of costs-only proceedings issued has risen sharply since its introduction in April 1999, according to figures released in Parliament last week to Labour MP Andrew Dismore, a personal injury solicitor.

Last year 2,046 costs-only applications were issued between April and December.

The figure had reached 5,326 by October this year.

;Andrew Twambley, a partner at ;Manchester-based Amelans which has bulk issued more than 200 cases in Macclesfield County Court defended his firms actions saying that if insurers came back to negotiate sensibly on costs they did not issue.

;If they put some costs monkey on to us saying they wont pay us, just to save their client a percentage however reasonable our costs, we will issue to make sure we get paid, Mr Twambley said.

;Andrew Parker, president of the Forum of Insurance Lawyers, described Master Hursts guidance as welcome clarification on a straightforward system of costs recovery which has been abused so far.

He said he hoped defendant solicitors were not guilty of abusing the procedure.

;However, there was disappointment among claimant solicitors that it failed to deal with the recovery of insurance premiums and success fees in pre-issue cases.

;Patrick Allen, vice-president of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers, said that without guidance from the courts or government, litigation would grind to a halt until a test case was taken.

;He added that if insurance premiums were recoverable only in cases where proceedings were issued, it would lead to unnecessary litigation.

It could also have a huge impact on the viability ;of insurance products, which required risk to be spread to keep premiums down, he added.

;See letters, pages 18 and 20 ;l The Gazette will publish Master Hursts guidance note in full next week.