The High Court has ordered Olumide Smith to pay the respondents’ costs of his unsuccessful appeal and the costs of the Circuit Court proceedings below. The order is stayed while his intended appeal to the Court of Appeal, and any application for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court, are heard and determined.
The stay will lapse if an appeal is not filed within 28 days of the costs order being perfected, according to a supplementary judgment delivered by Mr Justice Garrett Simons on 5 May 2021.
The case was an appeal under section 28(3) of the Equal Status Act 2000. The principal judgment, delivered on 11 February 2020, dismissed Smith’s appeal. The supplementary judgment dealt only with the allocation of costs.
The respondents had sought their costs, relying on the usual rule that a party entirely successful in proceedings is normally entitled to recover costs from the losing party. They initially proposed a modified, contingent order: it would not be enforced if Smith did not pursue a further appeal. The judge said that arrangement depended on Smith’s consent.
The matter was adjourned in March 2020 amid restrictions on non-urgent court hearings. In later written submissions, Smith said he intended to exhaust his domestic remedies by appealing the principal judgment. He asked the High Court for leave to appeal and for a stay on further action concerning costs.
The judge ruled that Smith did not need High Court leave to appeal to the Court of Appeal. The judgment said a right of appeal followed from the constitutional arrangements for appeals from the High Court. It also explained that any application for a “leap frog” appeal to the Supreme Court must be made directly to that court; the High Court had no role in granting that leave.
Because Smith confirmed he intended to appeal, the respondents’ proposed contingent costs arrangement fell away. The judge said Smith had put forward no reason to depart from the general rule on costs. The order covers the respondents’ costs in the High Court and Circuit Court, including reserved costs and one set of written legal submissions. If the parties cannot agree the amount, it is to be adjudicated by the Office of the Chief Legal Costs Adjudicator under Part 10 of the Legal Services Regulation Act 2015.