Brian May has recovered only a fifth of the £200,000-plus he claimed in legal costs after he accepted a settlement in a row with neighbours over a basement extension.
May – who campaigns against the disruption caused by so-called “mega basements” – and his actress wife Anita Dobson brought proceedings in the County Court for nuisance arising out of a basement development near his Kensington home, but accepted £25,000 by way of settlement from the Wavell Group.
The battleground then moved to legal costs, with May seeking £208,236 including VAT.
However, now Master Rowley has reduced the costs allowed to £35,000 plus VAT.
Colin Young, a partner at law firm Boodle Hatfield who acted for Wavell, said: “This case is a lesson for parties and their legal advisers to consider very carefully the steps that they intend to take when dealing with a case, whether prosecuting a claim or defending.
“Costs incurred should be tightly focused on the issues at large in the proceedings. If any party wishes to pursue matters outside of that focus, they cannot reasonably expect to recover the costs of such matters if they are successful in their case. The courts are likely to scrutinise ever more carefully the costs incurred.”
He added: “A key feature in this case was the fact that the claimants accepted the settlement offer at a very early stage in the proceedings. The claimants had spent considerable costs exploring a number of avenues which did not, in the end, develop further in the claim.
“The Master however found that despite the claimants’ celebrity status, and May’s campaign to disrupt the creation of mega basements, there was nothing within the costs claimed for these proceedings which could be considered proportionate as a result of any wider issues.”
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