help with claiming tribunal costs

[bjkmummy]

ive lodged a claim for my costs as LA conceded on the day.

LA have got their barrister to respond back and he is saying that I should only be able to claim £48 per witness as this is the half day fee - I cant find where he has come up with this figure from - given the 2 witnesses cost me in total £1500 - £48 is nothing.

he is also saying they cannot claim for their time for preparing for the hearing - given the bundle was 750 pages long (680 pages my case) they of course prepared for the hearing.

he also says that it is contrary to the usual procedure in sen proceedings that the costs are borne by the parties and there are no sufficient grounds put forward by me to depart from the usual principle - no idea where he has got this from either as I cant find that wrote down anywhere

Somewhere in your tribunal bundle from SENDIST there will be a form which states £x can be claimed for yourself and each expert. From memory it was something extremely derisory (and possibly for travel expenses only?) - so it could be this is the £48 per witness he is claiming. It'll be in your bundle somewhere. It's a form your supposed to compete after the hearing - but I think most people don't claim it because it's an insult.

As to "insufficient grounds" I think, (but can't remember precise words) that somewhere it says something about either party acting "unreasonably". So you have to prove that they were unreasonable in bringing the case to hearing.

Ive said unreasonable on the grounds that it should never have gone to tribunal and how the judge made it clear the LA had an 'uphill struggle' so basically telling them they had no chance.

barrister now spinning this to say that the judge praised him and said what an amazing job he did - seems to have forgotten the chat where the judge said he had no chance of winning it.

I know I have no chance of getting any of the fees back but its more the point of it I guess and only cost me 2 emails whereas wonder how much the barrister has charged the LA for his short response back

thing is we all know expert witnesses wont claim the normal expenses as so woeful and none of us would get them to come to court if we don't pay for their time - wonder how much the LA paid the barrister - im guessing a lot more than £48 and then conceded it

www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/405920/health-education-social-care-chamber-tribunal-procedure-rules.pdf

"10.—(1) Subject to paragraph (2), the Tribunal may make an order in respect of costs only—
(a) under section 29(4) of the 2007 Act (wasted costs) and costs incurred in applying for such costs; or
(b) if the Tribunal considers that a party or its representative has acted unreasonably in bringing, defending or conducting the proceedings."

A friend sent me "HJ v London Borough of Brent 2011 UKUT 101 (AAC) and Ridehalgh v Horsefield 1994 Ch 205 at 232"
Apparently one of these says unreasonable conduct is conduct which is vexatious, designed to harass the other side even if as a result of excessive zeal and not improper motive.

I think the other says that the test is whether conduct 'permits of a reasonable explanation'.

So fingers crossed that when you dig around those cases you can find something helpful.

www.levyandlevy.co.uk/first-tier-tribunal-gets-tough-costs/

not an sen case but some good explanation of unreasonable behaviour