Specialist claimant firm Leigh Day & Co has billed £105m in fees for its work on the class action brought against oil company Trafigura, in one of the highest-ever costs claims for a single litigation case.

The bill, which was served in December, was disclosed at the Royal Costs of Justice on Monday (10 May) in front of senior cost judge Chief Master Hurst and Mr Justice MacDuff.

The long-running case was settled for £30m last September, with each of the 30,000 claimants entitled to receive £950 after the class action claimed that they were poisoned by 'slops' – toxic waste dumped by Trafigura near Abidjan, Ivory Coast in 2006.

Leigh Day's bill includes £45m in legal fees, both for the firm and counsel including Joe Smouha QC of Essex Court Chambers and Doughty Street Chambers' Richard Hermer QC, as well as a £45m success fee after the case was conducted under a conditional fee agreement.

Other costs include a £10m after-the-event insurance premium and £5m for disbursements, travels costs and expert fees.

A hearing is expected in front of Chief Master Hurst in the autumn, although a detailed assessment of the bill is unlikely to take place until next year.

Leigh Day senior partner Martyn Day commented: "It is the biggest personal injury case this country has ever seen. The case was bought in a war-torn country in Africa and we were up against very tough and strong opponents. The case only settled days before the trial was due to begin."

He added: "In the very first letter that we wrote to the defendant in 2006 we urged them to sit round a table with us and settle this claim. The company turned over $80bn (£53bn) last year so they are a massive company and they made their decision as to how to run the litigation. Had they of settled in 2006 they would have resolved this for a fraction of the price."

Trafigura was represented in the class action by Macfarlanes' head of contentious construction and engineering Simon Nurney. It is understood that the firm's legal fees were £14m.