9. Regulations 13, 14 and 15 of the principal Regulations are deleted and the following regulations substituted therefor:13.—(1) Any document required to be served under any provision of the Act or these Regulations shall be served either personally or by registered post to the last known address of the person required to be served.| (2) Whenever an aided person becomes a party to proceedings, or a party to proceedings becomes an aided person, the Director shall forthwith serve a copy of any Grant of Aid or Provisional Grant of Aid issued by the Director on every other party to the proceedings. |
| (3) A copy of any document referred to in this regulation shall be filed with the appropriate court and shall form part of the papers for use at the trial. |
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| Procedure relating to moneys payable to aided persons |
14.—(1) Subject to paragraphs (2) and (7), all moneys payable to an aided person —| (a) | by virtue of any order or agreement made in connection with the action, cause or matter to which his Grant of Aid relates, whether the agreement be made before or after proceedings are actually begun; or | | (b) | being moneys paid into court by any party and which are due or accruing due to the aided person in any proceedings to which his Grant of Aid relates, |
| shall be paid or repaid, as the case may be, to the Director and no other person shall be capable of giving a good discharge for moneys so payable. |
| (2) Where the Director is satisfied that the moneys payable to him under paragraph (1) are in excess of the total amount to be paid or retained by him under paragraph (3), the Director may approve that the whole or any part of such excess be paid to the aided person directly. |
(3) Upon receiving any moneys payable to him under paragraph (1), the Director shall —| (a) | pay to the Fund or the aided person’s solicitor, as the case may be, the costs of the proceedings as determined under regulation 15; | | (b) | retain any sum paid pursuant to an order or agreement for costs made in the aided person’s favour; | | (c) | retain a sum equal to the amount (if any) remaining unpaid in respect of any contribution under section 9(1) of the Act or any amount expended or advanced to meet out-of-pocket expenses under section 13(5) of the Act; | | (d) | retain any costs of proceedings taken by the Director under paragraph (4)(ii), in so far as such costs have not been recovered from the person against whom the proceedings have been taken; and | | (e) | pay the net balance of the moneys to the aided person. |
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(4) Where in any proceedings to which an aided person is a party —| (a) | an order or agreement is made providing for the recovery or preservation of property for the benefit of the aided person and, by virtue of section 9 of the Act, there is a first charge on the property for the benefit of the Fund; or | | (b) | an order or agreement is made for the payment of costs to the aided person, |
| (i) | require the aided person to take such proceedings, being proceedings which may be taken under section 5 of the Act, as may be necessary to enforce or give effect to the order or agreement; or | | (ii) | proceed to enforce any such order or agreement for the payment of money by the issue in his name of such proceedings referred to in sub-paragraph (i) as the Director deems fit in any court, without reference to the aided person, if the aided person fails, refuses or is unable to take those proceedings or the Director is of the opinion that it is reasonable and expedient to do so having regard to the probable cost of proceedings and the likelihood of their being successful. |
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| (5) Nothing in these Regulations shall be taken to require a Grant of Aid to be issued for the purposes of enforcement proceedings brought in the name of the Director pursuant to paragraph (4)(ii). |
| (6) The Director may defer the payment to an aided person’s solicitor of the solicitor’s costs in connection with the proceedings until the Director has, in his opinion, given effect to this regulation. |
| (7) This regulation shall not apply to any moneys payable under section 68, 69 or 70, or Chapters 4, 4A and 5 of Part X, of the Women’s Charter (Cap. 353), and for the purpose of section 9(2) of the Act, “property” shall not be taken as including any moneys so payable. |
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| Costs payable to solicitors |
15.—(1) The sums allowed to a solicitor —| (a) | in connection with proceedings in any court; or | | (b) | where there are no proceedings in any court, for investigating and reporting or giving an opinion upon an application for the grant of legal aid or giving legal advice, |
| shall be the full amount allowed on taxation of the costs on account of disbursements and 50% of the amount so allowed on account of solicitor and client costs, except that where the sum claimed by a solicitor who has been assigned cases by the Director on account of solicitor and client costs (including disbursements) does not exceed $1,000, the Director may, in his discretion, approve the payment of the costs without taxation. |
(2) Where in any proceedings to which an aided person is a party, proceedings are, or have been, brought to an end without a direction having been given as to the aided person’s costs being taxed as between solicitor and client in accordance with paragraph (1)(a), the aided person’s costs shall be so taxed —| (a) | in the court in which the proceedings were heard; or | | (b) | if the court in which the proceedings were heard has no power to award costs, then —| (i) | in the case of a claim for costs not exceeding $50,000, in the Subordinate Courts; or | | (ii) | in the case of a claim for costs exceeding $50,000, in the High Court, |
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| and the costs of the taxation shall be deemed to be costs in the proceedings to which the Grant of Aid relates. |
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(3) Where there are no proceedings in any court, the aided person’s costs shall be taxed —| (a) | in the case of a claim for costs not exceeding $50,000, in the Subordinate Courts; or | | (b) | in the case of a claim for costs exceeding $50,000, in the High Court, |
| and the costs of the taxation shall be deemed to be costs in the proceedings to which the Grant of Aid relates. |
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| (4) For the purpose of paragraph (1), costs shall be taxed according to the ordinary rules applicable on a taxation between solicitor and client where the costs are to be paid out of a common fund in which the client and others are interested, except that no question shall be raised as to the propriety of any act for which prior approval was obtained under these Regulations. |
| (5) The sum payable to members of the board other than the Director shall be $50 for each sitting. |
| (6) Notwithstanding paragraphs (1) to (5), where the Director, by way of a tender system or otherwise, enters into any agreement with any solicitor to engage the services of the solicitor and to assign cases to him, the agreement may provide for the payment of solicitor and client costs (including disbursements) to the solicitor at such rates as may be agreed between the Director and the solicitor.”. |
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