A plaintiff who succeeded on one part of a clinical negligence claim will recover 65% of her costs, after the High Court found that unsuccessful allegations had significantly extended the proceedings.
Ms Justice Irvine’s judgment of 19 July 2013 dealt only with costs. The underlying clinical negligence case had been heard over 21 days, and the court had delivered its liability judgment on 7 June 2013.
The plaintiff had alleged negligent care at Sligo General Hospital and the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital during several periods between February and March 2006. She also alleged that the surgery performed by her orthopaedic surgeon, Mr Keith Synott, was negligent.
In the earlier judgment, the court found negligence only in the investigation and treatment of the plaintiff’s symptoms after she returned to Sligo General on 12 March 2006. The court said the defendants were liable for an approximately 48-hour delay in surgery for cauda equina syndrome, and that the plaintiff was entitled to damages for the resulting injuries. The other allegations were rejected.
The plaintiff argued that she should receive all her costs because she had established liability and the different periods of care formed part of a continuous medical history. The defendants sought costs relating to the unsuccessful claims, pointing to the time spent and expert evidence required to address them.
Justice Irvine classified the case as complex for costs purposes because it involved several distinct allegations, some of which could have been pursued separately. She said the trial had been significantly extended by claims on which the plaintiff did not succeed. Although the earlier medical history was relevant background to the successful claim, the court considered that the case would have taken a fraction of the time if it had been confined to the period in which negligence was found.
The judge held that the plaintiff remained the overall winner because she had established a right to damages against defendants who had denied liability. However, she said it would be unjust to require the defendants to pay the full costs of unsuccessful allegations that had lengthened the trial and increased expense.
The court awarded the plaintiff 65% of her costs. It did not order her to pay the defendants’ costs on the unsuccessful surgical allegation, despite finding that issue distinct and estimating that expert evidence on it took about three days. The judgment records the costs award but does not state the amount.