R Leslie John Drain v Birmingham Crown Court
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judge | Lord Justice Treacy,Mr Justice Morgan |
| Judgment Date | 25 June 2018 |
| Neutral Citation | [2018] EWHC 1605 (Admin) |
| Court | Queen's Bench Division (Administrative Court) |
| Date | 25 June 2018 |
| Docket Number | Case No: CO/4462/2017 |
[2018] EWHC 1605 (Admin)
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE
QUEEN'S BENCH DIVISION
ADMINISTRATIVE COURT
Royal Courts of Justice
Strand, London, WC2A 2LL
Lord Justice Treacy
and
Mr Justice Morgan
Case No: CO/4462/2017
and
and
On written submissions as to costs following earlier judgment
JUDGMENT COSTS
Lord Justice Treacy and
This is the judgment of the court in relation to costs following our earlier judgment on the substantive issues; the neutral citation of the earlier judgment is [2018] EWHC 1255 (Admin).
Birmingham Trading Standards (of Birmingham City Council) (“BCC”) has applied for an order that Mr Drain pay its costs of, and incidental to, these proceedings. We agree that we should make that order on the basis that Mr Drain has failed in his challenge to the forfeiture order of 18 May 2016 and BCC has succeeded in its response to that challenge.
BCC has provided a brief schedule setting out a summary of its costs. Those costs have two elements. The first relates to the fees of solicitors and counsel. The second relates to the costs of storing the items which were the subject of the forfeiture order. BCC has stated that the costs of storage relate to a period from 16 June 2016 (28 days after the forfeiture order of 18 May 2016) and continuing until the hearing of the substantive application for judicial review in this case on 3 May 2018. BCC had borne the costs of storage of the items at all times up to 16 June 2016. In fact, BCC has claimed for storage for 23 months. As we handed down our substantive judgment in this case on 25 May 2018, 23 months had elapsed between 16 June 2016 and the hand down of judgment.
BCC has explained that the solicitors from Mr Drain specifically requested, on 31 May 2016, that BCC should not dispose of the items until any potential appeal or judicial review of the forfeiture order had been dealt with. BCC complied with that request. The solicitors for Mr Drain repeated that request on 10 April 2017, following Mr Drain's abandonment of an appeal to the Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) and again BCC complied with that request.
Pursuant to section 51(1) of the Senior Courts Act 1981, the court has...
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