The High Court has ordered each party to bear its own costs in a judicial review that was dismissed on its merits, after finding that the respondents’ unsuccessful procedural objection had materially increased the proceedings and that the notice party’s participation largely duplicated the respondents’ defence.
Mr Justice Garrett Simons delivered the costs judgment on 22 November 2021. The main judgment, delivered on 30 July 2021, dismissed Sabina Murphy’s judicial review. This later judgment dealt only with costs.
The respondents had argued that the judicial review was premature and that Murphy should have waited for the outcome of the statutory appeals process. The court rejected that objection in the main judgment. Justice Simons said it had taken up much of the hearing and written submissions, materially affecting costs. He concluded the respondents’ costs should be discounted and ordered that Murphy and the respondents each bear their own costs.
Córas Iompair Éireann, named as the notice party, sought its costs from Murphy. It submitted that the judicial review could have deprived it of an opportunity to appeal a decision about her employment status, and that it was a necessary party which had participated in good faith and succeeded overall.
The judge found that Córas Iompair Éireann was a proper party and that the outcome directly affected it. However, the respondents had fully defended the case, the judicial review grounds primarily concerned their handling of the statutory appeal, and the notice party’s contribution did not add to the substantive defence. Its participation largely duplicated the respondents’ work.
The judgment also noted that the notice party had correctly argued that time had begun to run for the three-month judicial review limit, but it had opposed an extension of time and did not prevail on that point. The judge said awarding a notice party employer costs against an unsuccessful employee in this kind of social welfare judicial review could deter people from bringing claims, given the risk of facing two sets of costs.
Murphy’s application for her costs was also refused. The judge said she had lost on the merits and that her challenge to the statutory appeal had been found contrived in the main judgment. The final order, under section 169 of the Legal Services Regulation Act 2015, made no costs award to the respondents or notice party. Each party will bear its own costs.