D O’Dempsey in chambers (1.5.18) Miss Angela Thomas v Hermiston Securities Limited and 3 others — 2018

The tribunal dealt with written submissions only and was deciding the First Respondent's application for costs thrown away after the hearing listed for 8 February 2018 was postponed. The judge recorded that, at the earlier hearing on 8 February 2018, an in-principle costs order had already been made against the Second Respondent, and these reasons were limited to quantum.

The Claimant had withdrawn her claim, which the tribunal dismissed upon withdrawal. In relation to the costs application, the judge said the receiving party had not properly co-operated to achieve the overriding objective and had not confined the claim to costs actually thrown away by the postponement. The schedule included items from 13 December 2017 to 2 February 2018, but the tribunal held those would have been incurred in any event for the merits hearing.

The tribunal also rejected the way the items for 6 to 8 February 2018 were presented, finding they were not adequately explained as costs thrown away for the abandoned hearing and were more likely to relate to work that could be used when the merits hearing was relisted. The judge noted that the claim appeared to include six hours of AS's time on the day itself and did not accept that this probably related to the hearing that did not take place.

The tribunal did not accept the Second Respondent's submission that costs should be limited to time actually spent in the hearing, because that would not reflect the time probably wasted by the postponement. Taking the material into account, the judge awarded £805 for time spent explaining the postponement, dealing with the immediate consequences, an element for travel on the day, and 90 minutes of hearing-related time.