The High Court has ordered Ryanair DAC to pay Peter Bellew’s legal costs after dismissing the airline’s claim to prevent him from immediately joining a competitor. The award excludes discovery costs and is limited to two hearing days.
Mr Justice Allen delivered the costs judgment on 27 January 2020, following a separate judgment on 23 December 2019 that dismissed Ryanair’s action. The costs hearing took place on 15 January 2020.
Ryanair had sought to enforce a post-employment restriction in Bellew’s employment contract. It alleged that he had access to confidential commercial and operational information and that its use by a competitor could damage the airline. Bellew had given notice of resignation in July 2019 and announced an intention to join a competitor on 1 January 2020.
Bellew argued that the restraint was unenforceable, including because the consideration for it had failed. He also alleged unfair and unreasonable treatment and said that, even if the restraint were enforceable, the court should not enforce it. The December judgment dismissed Ryanair’s claim. In the costs judgment, Allen noted that Bellew had succeeded on the breadth of the restraint but lost on the consideration and treatment issues.
Ryanair argued that Bellew should contribute to its costs, or that there should be no costs order, because the issues he raised had lengthened the trial. The two-week trial, which began on 3 December 2019, had taken substantially longer than the court considered necessary to decide the restraint issue. Allen found that the consideration and treatment issues raised by Bellew greatly prolonged the trial and added to preparation costs.
The judge nevertheless applied the general rule that costs follow the outcome. Bellew had won the action, so he was entitled to a costs order. Allen rejected both no order as to costs and a simple calculation that would offset four trial days against four days. He found he did not have enough information about preparation work to impose a percentage reduction safely.
The order was for Ryanair to pay Bellew’s costs, excluding the costs of discovery and limiting the recoverable hearing costs to two days. The judgment concerns costs after the action’s dismissal; it does not revisit that dismissal.