The court may make an order under CPR 44.11 where –

(i) a litigant or its legal representative, in connection with a summary or detailed assessment, fails to comply with a rule, practice direction or court order; or

(ii) it appears to the court that the conduct of a party or its legal representative, before or during the proceedings or in the assessment proceedings, was unreasonable or improper.

The sanctions which the Court can impose are:

(i) disallowance of all or part of the costs which are being assessed; or

(ii) ordering the party at fault or its legal representative to pay the costs which the misconduct has caused any other party to incur.

Before making such an order the Court must give the party or the legal representative in question a reasonable opportunity to make written submissions, or if requested to attend a hearing, to give reasons why such an order should not be made.

Where the court makes an order under CPR 44.11 against a legally represented party and that party is not present when the order is made, that party’s solicitor must notify the client in writing of the order no later than seven days after the legal representative receives notice of the order.

Extract from the Senior Courts Costs Office Guide 2018