The Court of Appeal has refused Catriona Cunniffe’s request to suspend a costs order while she sought leave to appeal to the Supreme Court. It ordered her to pay the respondents’ costs of each of two appeals, with the amounts to be adjudicated if the parties cannot agree them.
In a supplemental judgment delivered on 5 May 2023, Mr Justice Allen said the court had already dismissed the appeals in November 2022. They challenged a High Court decision that Ms Cunniffe’s claims arising from the administration of her late father’s estate were statute barred.
The supplemental judgment dealt with costs and Ms Cunniffe’s request for a stay. After the earlier appeal judgment, the court had given her 21 days to seek a further hearing on costs. She did not request a hearing, but filed written submissions on final orders on 21 December 2022. The respondents did not reply, and the court decided it could deal with the application without hearing from them.
Ms Cunniffe argued that she would seek Supreme Court leave to appeal, referring to the High Court’s handling of discovery motions and its decision to hear oral evidence on whether fraud or fraudulent concealment had postponed the limitation period. She sought a stay of the costs order while pursuing that application.
Justice Allen said the direction for oral evidence on the limitation issue had not turned the dismissal motions into a plenary hearing or directed that the action proceed to one. The Court of Appeal had previously concluded that deciding the discovery motions before the limitation issue risked wasting time and costs if the claims were statute barred.
The judgment said Ms Cunniffe had identified no arguable ground of appeal from the Court of Appeal decision, and no matter of general public importance. It refused the stay. The appeals remained dismissed, and Ms Cunniffe was ordered to pay the respondents’ costs of both appeals, to be assessed if agreement is not reached.