The government moved to impose the levels of recoverable success fees and after-the-event insurance premiums on the publishing industry last week after a Civil Justice Council (CJC) mediation failed to reach agreement.


A Ministry of Justice (MoJ) consultation paper supported the CJC's call to back a deal hammered out by claimant firm Carter-Ruck and News International (see [2007] Gazette, 28 June, 3), which was based on the original cross-industry agreement the CJC thought it had reached last October. This later fell apart.



The CJC handed the issue back to the MoJ, saying it should either do nothing or implement the agreement. 'The MoJ agrees with the CJC that doing nothing is not acceptable and would mean allowing the parties to resolve their issues on a case-by-case basis, which may result in satellite litigation,' the consultation said.



The agreement sets out the success fee recoverable at different stages of a claim.