Publishers in the UK are all too familiar with facing libel claims from claimants represented by lawyers on conditional fee agreements (CFAs). Defending libel actions against claimants represented on a CFA is a potentially expensive business.
The stakes are high. If the defendant is successful, the claimant may well not be able to meet the defendant’s costs. Equally, if the claimant is successful, the defendant will have to pay a large proportion of the claimant’s costs plus face a claim for an uplift on the costs of up to 100%.
