s 115D Enforcement of conditional fee agreement
115D.—(1) No action or suit may be brought or instituted upon any conditional fee agreement except for an application made under this Part. (2) Every question respecting the validity or effect of a conditional fee agreement may be examined and determined, and the agreement may be enforced or set aside on an application to the court of justice in which the contentious proceedings or any part of the proceedings was conducted, or, if the proceedings were not conducted in any court of justice, then by the General Division of the High Court. (3) An application under subsection (2) may be made by any person or the representatives of any person who —(a) is a party to the conditional fee agreement; or (b) is or is alleged to be liable to pay, or is or is claiming to be entitled to be paid, the remuneration or costs in respect of which the agreement was made. (4) Upon an application under subsection (2), the court mentioned in that subsection may enforce a conditional fee agreement in any manner and subject to any condition as to the costs of the application that the court thinks fit, if the court finds that —(a) the requirements in section 115B have been complied with; and (b) the conditional fee agreement is neither void nor voidable on the ground of incapacity, fraud, misrepresentation, duress, coercion, undue influence, unconscionability, mistake or any other ground for invalidating a contract, having regard to the circumstances in which the agreement was made and the interests of all the parties to the agreement taken as a whole. (5) Upon an application under subsection (2), if the court mentioned in that subsection finds that the conditional fee agreement does not satisfy subsection (4)(a) or (b) —(a) the solicitor, foreign lawyer or law practice entity is not entitled to recover any amount in excess of the amount that would have been recoverable if the conditional fee agreement had satisfied subsection (4)(a) and (b), and must repay any excess amount received; and (b) subject to the limits mentioned in paragraph (a), the remuneration and costs incurred or chargeable in respect of the contentious proceedings included in the agreement are recoverable in the same manner and according to the same rules by which those remuneration and costs are recoverable on assessment if there had not been an agreement. (6) The court mentioned in subsection (2) may also make such order as to the costs of and relating to the application and the proceedings related to the application as the court thinks fit. (7) Within 12 months after a payment has been made under a conditional fee agreement, the person who made the payment may make an application under this section to the court mentioned in subsection (2), and the court may, if it is satisfied that the special circumstances of the case so require —(a) reopen the conditional fee agreement; (b) order the remuneration and costs to be assessed; and (c) order the whole or any portion of the amount received by the solicitor, foreign lawyer or law practice entity to be repaid on such terms and conditions as to that court seem just. (8) Where any conditional fee agreement is entered into by the client in the capacity of trustee under a deed or will, or of guardian or donee or deputy (as defined in section 2(1) of the Mental Capacity Act 2008) of a person who lacks capacity, and the estate or the property of the beneficiary or person will be chargeable with the amount payable under the agreement or with any part of that amount, the agreement must before payment be laid before the Registrar, who may examine it and disallow any part of it, or may require the direction of the General Division of the High Court to be taken on it. (9) If in a case mentioned in subsection (8), the client pays the whole or any part of the amount payable under the conditional fee agreement without the previous allowance of the Registrar or the General Division of the High Court —(a) the client is liable at any time to account for the amount charged to the estate or property mentioned in subsection (8); and (b) the solicitor, foreign lawyer or law practice entity that accepted the payment may be ordered by the court mentioned in subsection (2) to refund the amount received by the solicitor, foreign lawyer or law practice entity.[Act 8 of 2022 wef 04/05/2022]