The Court of Appeal ruled that Darius Savickis’s costs for his High Court case over an assault and the use of restraints at Castlerea Prison were limited to the lesser of €17,225 or the costs recoverable on the Circuit Court scale.
In a judgment delivered on 7 December 2016, Ms Justice Irvine held that section 17(3) of the Courts of Justice Act 1981 governed the costs of the High Court proceedings. The decision concerned costs only; it did not revisit the damages awarded on appeal.
The original High Court jury had awarded Mr Savickis €225 for negligence and assault arising from events on 29 September 2009, when he was a prisoner at Castlerea Prison. In an earlier appeal, the Court of Appeal set that award aside and substituted €10,000 for assault, €5,000 in exemplary damages for assault and consequential constitutional-rights breaches, and €2,225 for injuries caused by the negligent use of restraint techniques. The respondents accepted that Mr Savickis was entitled to the costs of the appeal hearing. The remaining question was the costs of the High Court hearing.
For Mr Savickis, counsel argued that section 94 of the Courts of Justice Act 1924 meant costs should follow the result of a jury trial, and that section 17(3) should not restrict costs in an assault claim brought before a High Court jury. Alternatively, counsel argued that the court retained discretion where the plaintiff had used the lowest court in which a jury trial was available.
The respondents argued that section 17 applied because the Circuit Court could have granted the relief Mr Savickis ultimately obtained. The Court of Appeal agreed. Justice Irvine said section 94 preserved the right to a jury in certain claims but did not guarantee High Court-scale costs. In her view, the later costs legislation limited recoverable costs by reference to the damages awarded, regardless of whether a jury or a judge decided the case.
The court held that the Circuit Court could have awarded the damages and other relief granted on appeal, even though the claim there would have been heard by a judge alone. It concluded that the jury-trial right did not displace the statutory costs limit. Mr Savickis was therefore entitled to High Court costs capped at the lesser of his €17,225 damages award or the costs he could recover on taxation at Circuit Court scale. The judgment did not state the resulting taxed amount.