The High Court has ordered William J. P. Egan to pay 22 defendants’ costs of a motion concerning how his defamation action could proceed, while staying execution of the order until the action is determined.
In a judgment delivered on 5 October 2021, Mr Justice Allen said the defendants were substantially successful on the central issue, even though they did not obtain the strike-out order they had sought. He ordered that Egan was not entitled to prosecute the action otherwise than as a claim for damages for defamation.
The motion followed a letter Egan wrote on 10 May 2019. In an earlier judgment, the court found he could not turn the defamation action into a standalone claim for a correction order. But the letter had not abandoned the action or made it bound to fail. The case therefore remained a claim for damages.
The defendants argued that the letter was intended to narrow the issues, limiting the particulars and discovery they might obtain, and that its effect had to be resolved before the action could progress. They said Egan’s position on the letter added to the costs of both sides. Egan opposed the strike-out application but did not seek the costs of the motion; he argued the costs should be costs in the cause or reserved to trial.
Justice Allen rejected the argument that the motion had achieved nothing. He said the defendants needed to resolve the basis on which the action would be tried, and that Egan’s letter was ineffective to change it. The outcome required Egan to proceed on the basis the defendants had argued for. The judge said making the additional costs costs in the cause could leave the defendants bearing them if Egan succeeded at trial, which would not be just.
The costs ruling did not determine the defamation claim. The defendants’ costs are payable under the order, but enforcement is stayed pending the determination of the action.