The High Court has awarded the defendants their full costs in proceedings brought by Ian Bailey, including discovery costs and half of a juror’s travel reimbursement, after rejecting Mr Bailey’s application for a “wasted costs” order.
The decision, delivered by Mr Justice Hedigan on 12 May 2015, concerned costs following the defendants’ successful defence of the proceedings. It did not determine the underlying allegations.
Mr Bailey argued that a substantial part of his case was withdrawn from the jury on limitation grounds only at the end of the trial, and that the issue could have been decided earlier. He estimated that about 33 and a half days of evidence were thereby wasted, and sought the costs for those days. He also sought discovery costs, saying the eventual discovery order granted what he had requested after several adjournments.
The defendants said the limitation defence had been pleaded and was known to Mr Bailey from an early stage. They argued that the central part of his case went to the jury, and that evidence about the withdrawn claims could not realistically be separated from the rest of the trial. They also said gardaí accused of serious wrongdoing were entitled to answer those allegations in open court.
The judge rejected the argument that an earlier limitation application would have avoided the days claimed as wasted. He said the seriousness of the allegations had made a full hearing before a jury necessary, and that an early application to decide the limitation issue would likely have been resisted by Mr Bailey. He noted that no such preliminary application had been made, so he could not say how he would have ruled on it.
The judgment also corrected the characterisation that most of Mr Bailey’s case had been withdrawn. The judge said its central allegation—that gardaí conspired to obtain false statements from Marie Farrell to implicate Mr Bailey in a murder and intimidate her—was put to the jury for its decision.
Applying the general rule that costs follow the event, the court found no exceptional reason to depart from it. The order grants the defendants the costs of the full proceedings, all reserve costs, discovery costs and 50% of the juror’s travel reimbursement.