The Court of Appeal has dismissed Arnaud D. Gaultier’s appeal against a High Court order allowing the Registrar of Companies to seek execution of a €25,215.06 costs award dating from 2013.
In a judgment delivered on 7 March 2025, Ms Justice Faherty said the High Court was entitled to grant the Registrar leave to enforce the costs order and was also entitled to refuse Mr Gaultier’s application to revisit its judgment. Allen J and O’Moore J agreed.
The costs arose from Mr Gaultier’s unsuccessful judicial review challenge to the striking off and dissolution of Loire Valley Limited for failing to file accounts. The High Court refused his judicial review in March 2013 and awarded costs to the Registrar. After taxation, a certificate issued in June 2017 for €25,215.06. Mr Gaultier’s appeal against the 2013 order was dismissed in 2019, and the Supreme Court refused leave to appeal in January 2020.
The Registrar applied in March 2022 for leave to execute the costs order, which was more than six years old. The High Court granted leave in July 2023, accepting that the Registrar had adequately explained the delay, including efforts to resolve and tax the costs, Mr Gaultier’s appeals, and Covid-19 restrictions. It found no evidence that he had suffered specific prejudice from the delay.
Mr Gaultier argued that earlier judgments were void because, he said, courts had failed to address his arguments and breached his rights. The Court of Appeal held that the execution application was not a route to reopen issues already determined through earlier proceedings and appeals. It also rejected his challenge to the High Court’s refusal to amend or revisit its July 2023 judgment. The proposed changes went beyond correcting clerical mistakes, and the Court found no strong reason to reopen the judgment.
The Court also rejected Mr Gaultier’s claims of procedural unfairness. The High Court had offered him a further hearing after a remote hearing could not proceed as planned; he chose to have the application decided on the written material. The Court of Appeal said he had also been given opportunities to file written submissions on costs.
The appeal was dismissed. The High Court order permits the Registrar to issue execution in respect of the 2013 costs order; the judgment does not itself state that execution had taken place. The Court of Appeal proposed awarding the Registrar her appeal costs, subject to any party notifying the court within 14 days that they sought a different costs order.