A 'No Win No Fee' agreement that relates on its face to a plaintiff's personal claim does not preclude the plaintiff from recovering costs in respect of the representative aspects of a group proceeding where the plaintiff has succeeded on common questions benefiting group members. The indemnity principle from Gundry v Sainsbury only denies costs where it is established that under no circumstances was the plaintiff liable for costs; where the agreement does not address the representative capacity, that threshold is not met. Costs in complex group proceedings should be determined on an issue-by-issue basis rather than by percentage apportionment where the court cannot fairly assess proportions.
The full text is available to signed-in members, including the 18 later cases that cite this judgment.
4 of the 18 citing cases carry a classified treatment. How each court treated it is available to signed-in members.