The claimant, Mr Islam, sought remuneration in respect of his services as the chartered accountant during the period May 1999 to July 2001, when he ran the defendant Mrs Ali's late husband's accountancy business. He had received around £72,000 for part of this period and sought about a further £84,000, but was awarded £12,746.41. Mrs Ali maintained that Mr Islam ran the business as an agent and was only entitled to a reasonable remuneration, although her only offer to settle the action was that Mr Islam should pay her legal costs of £15,000 plus disbursements. Mr Islam had offered to settle for £45,000 plus interest plus £15,000 in respect of his legal costs. The trial judge ordered Mrs Ali to pay Mr Islam's costs.
Mrs Ali argued on appeal that the judgment sum was not a true representation of a "win" for Mr Islam, but merely a relatively small sum contrasted to his much larger claimed sums, and that the judge should have asked himself who in truth succeeded in the action when the case was looked at as a whole, and then consider what costs order was required.