Yao Essaie Motto & Ors v Trafigura Ltd & Anor

Yao Essaie Motto & Ors v Trafigura Ltd & Anor [2011] EWHC 90201 (Costs), (QBD) (SCCO) (Judgment 15.02.11). 

This was a class action involving 29,614 claimants which settled for £30 million.  The Senior Costs Judge had to determine 22 preliminary issues of which the following will be of interest to practitioners generally:

• Vetting (i.e. the costs of collecting, assessing and management of each claim): recoverable in principle but subject to the wording of the CFA in respect of the date from which the agreement is to run.

• Risk assessments for success fees: these should be reappraised when new CFAs are entered into, more claimants join an action, and if events during the litigation mean that the position on success might have changed.
• Costs of entering into a CFA and establishing an ATE insurance policy: confirmed that these are recoverable on ground that this is work properly carried out and for which they are entitled to charge.

The senior costs Judge is to deliver a supplementary judgment dealing with interest on costs in this very expensive piece of litigation.


The judgement is unsurprisingly given its size subject to an appeal.