Samsung Electronics Company Ltd v LG Display Company Ltd

JurisdictionEngland & Wales
JudgeLord Justice Males,Lord Justice Snowden,Lord Justice Lewison
Judgment Date06 April 2022
Neutral Citation[2022] EWCA Civ 466
Docket NumberCase No: CA-2021-000656 (formerly A4/2021/1107)
CourtCourt of Appeal (Civil Division)
Between:
1) Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd
2) Samsung Electronics Taiwan Co. Ltd
3) Samsung Electronics (UK) Ltd
4) Samsung Semiconductor Europe Ltd
5) Samsung Display Co Ltd
Appellants/Claimants
and
1) LG Display Co. Ltd
2) LG Display Taiwan Co. Ltd
Respondents/Defendants
Before:

Lord Justice Lewison

Lord Justice Males

and

Lord Justice Snowden

Case No: CA-2021-000656 (formerly A4/2021/1107)

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL (CIVIL DIVISION)

ON APPEAL FROM THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE

QUEEN'S BENCH DIVISION

COMMERCIAL COURT

Sir Michael Burton GBE

[2021] EWHC 1429 (Comm)

Royal Courts of Justice

Strand, London, WC2A 2LL

Robert O'Donoghue QC & Tom Pascoe (instructed by Covington & Burling LLP) for the Appellants/Claimants

Daniel Piccinin (instructed by Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP) for the Respondents/Defendants

Written submissions

Approved Judgment (Costs)

This judgment was handed down remotely at 10.30 a.m. on 6 th April 2022 by circulation to the parties or their representatives by email and by release to BAILII and the National Archives.

Lord Justice Males
1

I am giving this brief judgment to deal with an issue concerning the costs of the appeal.

2

It is common ground that the successful respondent, LG, should have its costs of the appeal and that these should be summarily assessed on the standard basis. LG has submitted a schedule claiming costs of £72,818.21. These include the costs of its solicitors, who bill in United States dollars, claiming costs at a rate of between US $1,045 and US $1,475.75 per hour for Grade A fee earners and between US $578 and US $918 for Grade C fee earners. At the conversion rate used, these are equivalent to charges between £801.40 and £1,131.75 for Grade A and between £443.27 and £704 for Grade C.

3

As the appellant, Samsung, points out, these are well above the guideline hourly rates set out in Appendix 2 to the “Summary Assessment of Costs” guide published in the White Book. Those guideline rates for London 1, which applies to “very heavy commercial and corporate work by centrally based London firms”, are £512 for Grade A (solicitors and legal executives with over eight years' experience) and £270 for Grade C (solicitors and legal executives with less than four years' experience and other fee earners of equivalent experience). In some cases, therefore, the rates claimed are more than double the guideline rates.

4

The guide recognises that in substantial and...

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31 cases
  • H v GH
    • United Kingdom
    • Family Court
    • 7 December 2023
    ...Family Court, of the guideline hourly rates published as part of the ‘Guide to the Summary Assessment of Costs’. 48 In Samsung Electronics Co Ltd v LG Display Ltd (Costs) [2022] EWCA Civ 466, [2022] Costs LR 627 Males LJ (with whom Snowden and Lewison LJJ agreed) held at [6]: “If a rate in......
  • Various Claimants v News Group Newspapers Ltd
    • United Kingdom
    • Senior Courts
    • 4 April 2023
    ...In terms of the need for that justification, Ms Reffin relied upon the words of Males LJ in the case of Samsung Electronics Co Ltd & Ors v LG Display Co Ltd & Anor [2022] EWCA Civ 466 and again (together with Birss LJ) in Athena Capital Fund SICAV-FIS SCA & Ors v Secretariat of State for th......
  • Chedington Events Ltd v Nihal Mohamed Brake
    • United Kingdom
    • Chancery Division
    • 22 February 2024
    ...a higher rate on assessment, but I emphasise that the burden of so justifying lies on the receiving party: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd v LG Display Co Ltd [2022] EWCA Civ 466; Athena Capital Services SICAV v Secretariat of State for the Holy See [2022] EWCA Civ 1061. The submissions on each ......
  • Patley Wood Farm LLP v Kristina Kicks
    • United Kingdom
    • Chancery Division
    • 6 December 2022
    ...figures. Of course they are guidelines, and are not set in stone. But, as the Court of Appeal said recently in Samsung Electronics Co Ltd v LG Display Co Ltd [2022] EWCA Civ 466, and again in Athena Capital Services SICAV v Secretariat of State for the Holy See [2022] EWCA Civ 1061, if a ra......
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