PART XIV: BILLS OF COSTS FOR ASSESSMENT

102. Basis of assessment

103. Form of bills of costs

104. Registrar’s Certificate

105. Objections

106. Amount allowed as disbursement on account of use of electronic transmission

107. Assessments involving the Public Trustee or the Director of Legal Aid

107A. Costs guidelines for District Court cases

102. Basis of assessment

Every bill of costs to be assessed pursuant to a judgment or order of Court must be filed together with a copy of the judgment or order of Court. Where an order for assessment is not required under the Rules of Court 2021, the bill of costs shall describe succinctly in its heading the basis of assessment. A bill of costs for assessment between a solicitor and his client pursuant to section 120(3) of the Legal Profession Act 1966 must be filed together with a copy of the document signifying the consent of the parties to assessment.

103. Form of bills of costs

The attention of solicitors is drawn to Rules 2, 10 and 20 and Appendix 1 of Order 21 of the Rules of Court 2021. In addition, solicitors are to abide by the following requirements in relation to the form of bills of costs.

(1) Margins

A blank margin of not less than 10mm wide must be provided on all four sides for each page of the bill of costs.

(2) Pagination

Every page of a bill of costs must be paginated consecutively at the centre of the top of the page. The attention of solicitors is drawn to Practice Direction 88 regarding pagination of documents filed using the Electronic Filing Service.

(3) Format

(a) Party-and-party bills:

(i) A bill of costs drawn up for assessment between one party to proceedings and another should be divided into three separate sections as required by Order 21, Rule 20 of the Rules of Court 2021.

(ii) Form 25 in Appendix A1 to these Practice Directions should be used for contentious business in respect of work done for a trial or in contemplation of a trial.

(iii) Form 26 in Appendix A1 to these Practice Directions should be used for contentious business in respect of, or in contemplation of, work done other than for a trial (such as work done for an appeal or for a specific interlocutory application).

(b) Solicitor-and-own-client bills:

(i) A bill of costs drawn up for assessment (pursuant to any written law) between a solicitor and his own client should be drawn up in the same manner described in sub-paragraph (a) above save as follows:

(A) A solicitor will be deemed to have indicated that all items included in the bill are in relation to work done or disbursements incurred with the approval of the client.

(B) Any agreement, whether oral or in writing, between the solicitor and his own client relating to the amount of costs payable either as a global sum or in respect of particular items included in the bill should be indicated on the bill.

(C) Any agreement between the solicitor and his own client as to the rate to be used to compute the solicitor’s costs should also be indicated in the bill.

(ii) Form 27 in Appendix A1 to these Practice Directions should be used for non-contentious business.

(c) Bills of costs required to be assessed under section 18(3) of the Motor Vehicles (Third Party Risks and Compensation) Act 1960:

(i) Whenever a solicitor-and-own-client bill is required to be assessed by virtue of the above-captioned Act, a bill should be drawn up for assessment between the solicitor and his own client and another bill drawn up for assessment between the client and the other party to the proceedings in which the solicitor acted for the client. A waiver of the filing fees for the solicitor-and-own-client bill may be requested for when this bill is filed.

(ii) The party-and-party bill should be filed first and the solicitor-and-own-client bill should reference the first bill.

(iii) The party-and-party bill and the solicitor-and-own-client bill can be drawn up as described in sub-paragraphs (a) and (b) above with the modification set out in sub-paragraph (iv) below.

(iv) It is not necessary to repeat serially in the solicitor-and-own-client bill the items which have been serially set out in the party-and-party bill. It is sufficient, ordinarily, to incorporate all such items by reference and proceed to set out in detail any additional items, ie, items not already set out in the party-and-party bill. However, if a sum claimed for an item of disbursement in the solicitor-and-own-client bill is different from the corresponding sum claimed in the party-and-party bill, it will be necessary to set out serially again in the solicitor-and-own-client bill all the items of disbursement already set out in the party-and-party bill (including, where appropriate, the different sum or sums claimed) as well as additional items of disbursement not so set out. In addition, the global sums claimed for sections 1 and 2 of the solicitor-and-own-client bill should be indicated at the end of the respective sections whether or not they are the same sums as those claimed for sections 1 and 2 of the party-and-party bill.

(4) Particulars

(a) Sufficient particulars must be included in the bill of costs so as to enable the Registrar to exercise his discretion under Order 21, Rule 2 of the Rules of Court 2021.

(b) Without prejudice to paragraph (3) above, the Registrar may, at the assessment hearing, order the claiming or receiving party to furnish full details in support of the sums claimed under the bill.

(c) Each bill of costs submitted to the Court through the Electronic Filing Service must —

(i) be in Portable Document Format (“PDF”);

(ii) comply with these Practice Directions; and

(iii) be accompanied by a bill of costs summary composed online through the Electronic Filing Service.

(d) The information required by the Electronic Filing Service to compose the bill of costs summary includes the costs claimed under Sections 1, 2 and 3 of the bill of costs.

(5) Goods and Services Tax

A party claiming goods and services tax (“GST”) in a bill of costs must comply with the directions set out in this paragraph. A party who fails to comply with the directions set out in this paragraph will be presumed not to be claiming GST in the bill concerned.

(a) GST registration number:

(i) The GST registration number allocated by the Comptroller of Goods and Services Tax to the solicitors for the receiving party or parties should appear at the top left-hand corner of the first page of the bill of costs.

(ii) The GST registration numbers, if any, allocated to the receiving parties or to any one or more of them, as the case may be, must also appear at the top left-hand corner of the first page of the bill of cost.

(iii) The GST registration numbers should be indicated as follows: “GST Reg. No. (solicitors for claimant/solicitors for 1st defendant/2nd defendant/(or as the case may be)): xxxxx.”

(iv) Where no GST registration number has been allocated to a receiving party, a statement to this effect should be included after the GST registration numbers of the solicitors for the receiving parties, or the receiving parties, as the case may be, in the following manner: “Solicitors for claimant/solicitors for 1st defendant/2nd defendant/(or as the case may be): no GST Reg. No.”

(b) Input tax allowable:

The proportion of input tax for which the receiving parties, or one or more of them, are not entitled to credit should be stated, as a percentage, in parentheses after the GST registration number of the party or parties concerned. For a person who is not liable to be registered within the meaning of the First Schedule to the Goods and Services Tax Act 1993, this proportion should be 100%.

(c) Apportionment:

(i) The first and second sections of the bill of costs, which set out the work done in the cause or matter except for assessment of costs and the work done for and in the assessment of costs, should each be divided into such number of parts as will enable the bill to reflect the different rates of GST applicable during the relevant period of time.

(ii) The third section, which sets out the disbursements made in the cause or matter, should similarly be divided, with the first part setting out the disbursements on which no GST is chargeable by the solicitors for the receiving party or the receiving party, as the case may be.

(d) Summaries of the GST claimed for work done:

The following information as is applicable should be included at the end of the first and of the second sections:

(i) the global sum of costs claimed for work done during each period for which a different rate of GST applies or no GST applies;

(ii) the proportion, as a percentage, of input tax for which the receiving parties, or one or more of them, are not entitled to credit;

(iii) a quantification of the input tax on the costs claimed in the section concerned for which the receiving parties, or one or more of them, are not entitled to credit; and

(iv) quantifications of the GST claimed at the applicable rate on the costs claimed in the section concerned.

(e) Summary of the GST claimed for disbursements:

The following information as is applicable should be included at the end of the third section:

(i) a summation of the disbursements on which no GST is chargeable by the solicitors for the receiving party or the receiving party, as the case may be;

(ii) a summation of the disbursements on which GST at the applicable rate is chargeable by the solicitors for the receiving party or the receiving party, as the case may be;

(iii) the proportion, as a percentage, of input tax for which the receiving parties, or one or more of them, are not entitled to credit;

(iv) a quantification of the input tax on the disbursements on which GST is chargeable by the solicitors for the receiving party for which the receiving parties, or one or more of them, are not entitled to credit; and

(v) quantifications of the GST claimed at the applicable rates on the disbursements.

(f) Registrar’s certificate:

The total amount of GST allowed on a bill of costs will be indicated as a separate item in the Registrar’s certificate. Solicitors are responsible for ensuring that the GST figures accurately reflect the sums allowed by the Registrar.

104. Registrar’s Certificate

(1) As the Registrar’s Certificate of costs under Order 21, Rule 25 of the Rules of Court 2021 will be composed online based on the summary in the bill of costs, solicitors should ensure that the information contained in the summary in the bill of costs accurately reflects the information contained in the bill of costs submitted.

(2) The procedure for preparation of draft orders in Practice Direction 76 shall, mutatis mutandis, apply to the preparation of the Registrar’s certificate

(3) Solicitors should also ensure that the amounts claimed for goods and services tax in the Registrar’s Certificate are correct.

(4) For the avoidance of doubt, the Registrar’s Certificate shall be composed online through the Electronic Filing Service.

105. Objections

(1) In any disputed assessment involving party-and-party bills of costs, solicitors presenting the bill for assessment shall observe the following procedure:

(a) the respective solicitors shall confer prior to the date appointed for assessment with a view to resolving, limiting or clarifying the items in dispute; and

(b) any objections in principle or as to quantum of the items claimed in a bill of costs must be indicated by the filing and service of a Notice of Dispute in Form 28 in Appendix A1 to these Practice Directions at least 7 days before the date fixed by the Registrar for the assessment of the bill of costs.

(2) The Registrar may, in his discretion, make any appropriate orders as to costs if any of the above directions have not been complied with.

(3) The Notice of Dispute shall be filed through the Electronic Filing Service in Portable Document Format and be accompanied by a Notice of Dispute summary, the electronic form of which will be composed online through the Electronic Filing Service.

(4) The information required by the Electronic Filing Service to compose the Notice of Dispute summary includes the amounts of costs to be awarded under Sections 1, 2 and 3 of the bill of costs according to the respondent.

106. Amount allowed as disbursement on account of use of electronic transmission

(1) If a document is filed using the Electronic Filing Service, $0.40 for each page of the document thus filed shall be allowed as costs between parties to proceedings. Such costs may be claimed by a receiving party from the paying party where the receiving party is entitled to costs for the filing of the document. These costs shall be allowed in addition to all other disbursements and Court fees.

(2) This Practice Direction shall apply to the assessment of costs as well as cases where the Court fixes a gross sum in lieu of directing an assessment.

(3) This Practice Direction shall not apply to any document filed through the service bureau.

107. Assessments involving the Public Trustee or the Director of Legal Aid

(1) This Practice Direction shall be complied with in respect of all assessments in which the Public Trustee or the Director of Legal Aid is involved.

(2) For all assessments in which the Public Trustee or the Director of Legal Aid is involved —

(a) the receiving party must, prior to the filing of the bill of costs in Court through the Electronic Filing Service, send the bill of costs to be filed to the Public Trustee or the Director of Legal Aid, as the case may be;

(b) the Public Trustee or the Director of Legal Aid should then inform the receiving party whether he/she agrees or disagrees with the amounts claimed in the bill of costs;

(c) when filing the bill of costs in Court through the Electronic Filing Service, the receiving party must state whether the Public Trustee or the Director of Legal Aid agrees or disagrees with the amounts claimed in the bill of costs; and

(d) the bill of costs should also be served on the Public Trustee or the Director of Legal Aid, as the case may be, on the same day that the bill of costs is filed.

(3) If the Public Trustee or the Director of Legal Aid (as the case may be), agrees with the amounts claimed in the bill of costs, then —

(a) for solicitor-and-client costs required to be assessed pursuant to the provisions of the Motor Vehicles (Third-Party Risks and Compensation) Act 1960 —

(i) where no party-and-party bill of costs has been filed; or

(ii) where the solicitor-and-client costs are not referenced to a party-and- party bill filed earlier,

the receiving party and the Public Trustee need not attend at the assessment and the bill will be assessed in their absence, except that if the assessing Registrar disagrees with the quantum of costs agreed on, he may nonetheless direct the attendance of the receiving party and the Public Trustee at a later date;

(b) for solicitor-and-client bills filed pursuant to the Legal Aid and Advice Act 1995 where the Director of Legal Aid is the respondent, the receiving party and the Director of Legal Aid need not attend at the assessment and the bill will be assessed in their absence, except that if the assessing Registrar disagrees with the quantum of costs agreed on, he may nonetheless direct the attendance of the receiving party and the Director of Legal Aid at a later date.

(4) If solicitor-and-client costs are required to be assessed pursuant to the provisions of the Motor Vehicles (Third-Party Risks and Compensation) Act 1960 and the bill of costs claiming the same is referenced to an earlier party-and-party bill filed pursuant to Practice Direction 103(3)(c), the Public Trustee need not attend the assessment of the bill and the party-and-party and solicitor-and-client costs will be assessed in the absence of the Public Trustee. However, the Public Trustee may attend at the assessment if he so wishes, and shall attend if an express direction is made by the assessing Registrar that he should attend in relation to a particular bill of costs.

107A. Costs guidelines for District Court cases

(1) Solicitors making submissions on party-and-party costs (whether at assessment hearings or otherwise) for cases in the District Courts (excluding proceedings under Part 3 of the Protection from Harassment Act 2014 that are heard in any District Court) should have regard to the costs guidelines set out in Appendix H of these Practice Directions (the “Costs Guidelines”).

(2) The Costs Guidelines are to serve only as a general guide for party-and-party costs awards in the District Courts. The precise amount of costs awarded remains at the discretion of the Court and the Court may depart from the amounts set out in the Costs Guidelines depending on the circumstances of each case.

(3) To avoid doubt, nothing in the Costs Guidelines is intended to guide or influence the charging of solicitor-and-client costs.