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Anon 11:50 - The case settled in July 2015, just under 2 years after instruction, so presumably QOCS does apply.

You will get these disproportionate costs. However, that premium on the face of it seems absolutely bonkers. I mean, £32,000 premium for a QOCS claim where unrecoverable disbursements are likely to be around £10k at most? Ignore basket arguments, that premium is c-razy.

For a low value case you'd expect 1 breach expert, 1 causation expert and 1 condition and prognosis expert. Depending on the case any of those experts could deal with 1 or all aspects.

So, allow say £4,500 for initial medical evidence. Tag on some investigation work and a bit of to- and fro- with your expect and maybe £24,600 including the premium sounds about right to me. From the sounds of it the work Thompsons did was in fact proportionate.

The thing here is that maybe Thompsons are in a bind especially if the claimant has to pay any of the unrecovered premium or the non recoverable element of the ATE is high. After all, there are many ATE insurers that will provide a premium far less than £32,000. If Thompsons are stuck to one insurer and don't advise that less expensive insurers are out there they could be in line for some negligence claims.

Nice to see DC and RG jumping in again. If only they actually did the work.