News

Paul Behan Appointed Taxing Master of High Court In April 2017 Mr Paul Behan has been appointed Taxing Master of the High Court. Master Behan, formerly a Legal Costs Accountant has taken up his new appointment and succeeds Master Rowena Mulcahy whose term of office ended in January 2017.

Payment on Account of Costs Pending Taxation “In view of long delays in the taxation of costs, the attention of practitioners is drawn to the provisions of Order 99, rule 1B (5). I direct that in all cases where there is no dispute as to the liability for the payment of costs and in any other case which a judge thinks appropriate, an order may be made directing payment of a reasonable sum on account of costs within such period as may be specified by the judge pending the taxation of such costs. Such orders may be made on [...]

Time Limits Mr. Justice Hogan held on 30th of July 2013 (Harte V Horan) that an Order for Costs only becomes enforceable after the Taxation has been completed (or the costs agreed, as the case may be). In particular, it was held that “taxation of costs is not part of the process of execution of a Judgement” and further that taxation is “the further completion of the Judgement process itself”. As a result, it may be argued in future matters (where the specifics are right), that time does not begin running on an Order for Costs (or possibly the [...]

Declan O’Neill Appointed Taxing Master In December 2011, the Minister for Justice, Mr Alan Shatter appointed Mr Declan O’Neill as Taxing Master of the High Court. Master O’Neill, formerly a Legal Costs Accountant, has already taken up his new appointment and succeeds Master Charles Moran who retired in December 2010. The Minister also appointed Ms Rowena Mulcahy in February 2012 as the second Taxing Master of the High Court following the retirement of Master Flynn in December 2011. Master Mulcahy was prior to this appointment, a practicing Solicitor and Arbitrator.

As you are most likely aware, the Minister for Justice has recently published the Legal Services Regulation Bill 2011. Please click on this link to obtain a full copy of the Bill. http://www.oireachtas.ie/documents/bills28/bills/2011/5811/document2.pdf Parts 9 and 10 of the Bill deal specifically with Legal Costs and makes for some very interesting reading. The Taxing Masters’ Office is not to be abolished but rather it is simply morphing into what will be known as the Legal Costs Adjudicators’ Office. The Legal Costs Adjudicators will have all the powers currently held by the Taxing Masters and whilst they have a number [...]

It has previously been held by the Taxing Master and the Courts, that in the event a lodgement is made in a High Court case with a Circuit Court level of damages and such a lodgement (or tender) is accepted, the Plaintiff is not restricted to costs of the lower jurisdiction (see Cronin Vs Astra Business Systems Limited [2004] 3IR476). However, most interestingly, this issue arose in a Ruling delivered on 2nd June 2011 before Master Flynn. The Defendant in this instance had submitted a tender for an amount within the Circuit court jurisdiction in a High Court case [...]