The Court of Appeal has confirmed that liquidator Aidan Garcia Diaz is entitled to costs against Eamonn Brett following the dismissal of Brett’s appeal in a dispute over a company’s legal interest in property. The costs are to be adjudicated if the parties cannot agree an amount.
In a ruling delivered electronically on 2 May 2025, Ms Justice Pilkington said Brett had not shown a reason to depart from the court’s provisional view that the successful party should receive its costs. The ruling dealt solely with costs, after the court’s earlier judgment in the appeal, cited as [2025] IECA 25.
Brett, who represented himself, asked the court to make no costs order until a complaint he described as a perjury complaint against the liquidator and the liquidator’s legal team was resolved. He said the complaint arose from his contention that matters in an affidavit sworn by the liquidator were false and that he and his counsel had misled the court. He argued that this affected the Court of Appeal and High Court judgments. These were Brett’s contentions; the costs ruling did not determine the complaint.
Brett also referred to an offer to use dispute-resolution procedures that he said had received no response. His submission said that, if a compromise could be agreed, he would be willing not to appeal. The liquidator opposed an alternative costs order, arguing that Brett was seeking to reopen or relitigate issues already decided.
The court applied the statutory starting point that an entirely successful party in civil proceedings is entitled to costs unless the court orders otherwise, having regard to the case and the parties’ conduct. It noted that the earlier appeal judgment upheld the High Court’s decision that the company was entitled to the legal interest in the property. The appeal court varied only the means by which title could be transferred from the partnership to the company under the Trustee Act 1893.
Justice Pilkington said arguments seeking to reargue points already decided were irrelevant to the costs discretion. The court affirmed the High Court orders and confirmed the costs order against Brett. The amount remains to be adjudicated if agreement is not reached.