The Court of Appeal has ordered William Mulrooney to pay Forensic Science Northern Ireland (FSNI) the costs of proceedings in the High Court, including the motion that resulted in his case being dismissed as an abuse of process. It also confirmed FSNI’s entitlement to its costs of the appeal. The costs are to be adjudicated if the parties cannot agree them.
In a ruling delivered by Ms Justice Faherty on 15 January 2021, the court considered FSNI’s cross-appeal against the High Court’s costs order. The High Court had awarded FSNI the costs of its motion to dismiss the proceedings, but not the costs of the proceedings as a whole.
The Court of Appeal had previously dismissed Mr Mulrooney’s appeal against the High Court order. He accepted that FSNI was entitled to its costs of that appeal, but argued that the Court of Appeal should not alter the High Court’s decision on costs.
FSNI argued that it had succeeded on all points raised in opposition to its motion and should receive its full High Court costs. It said there were no exceptional circumstances to justify departing from the usual costs position. Mr Mulrooney relied on FSNI’s alleged pursuit of an Isaac Wunder order—restricting further proceedings without leave—and argued that this should count against awarding FSNI the full costs. FSNI disputed his account of what occurred at the costs hearing.
The court said the costs issue before it was confined to the costs of the High Court proceedings. It found no evidence that an application for an Isaac Wunder order had been made at the relevant hearing; Mr Mulrooney had not produced the recording relied on to support his contention. The court added that even if the issue had been raised again, that alone did not justify departing from the usual costs order. It also found no substantiated basis to conclude that FSNI or its lawyers had conducted the proceedings in a way warranting a reduction in costs.
Ms Justice Faherty concluded that the High Court judge had erred in principle by not awarding FSNI the costs of the proceedings. Haughton and Power JJ agreed. The court allowed FSNI’s cross-appeal and ordered Mr Mulrooney to pay its High Court costs, including the motion costs, as well as its appeal costs. The ruling did not determine a final amount; costs are to be adjudicated if agreement is not reached.