The Court of Appeal has directed that Ian Coughlan receive his costs in both the appeal and the High Court proceedings, with a stay until the case is finally determined.
The ruling, delivered on 10 July 2020 by Edwards, Whelan and Noonan JJ, concerns costs following the court’s principal judgment of 4 March 2020. In that earlier judgment, the appeal was allowed and the matter remitted to the High Court for determination in accordance with that judgment.
The parties agreed that Mr Coughlan should receive the costs of the appeal, subject to a stay pending final determination. The dispute was whether he should also receive the costs of the High Court proceedings or whether those costs should be reserved to the High Court.
The respondents argued that the final determination of the motion had not yet occurred, so the costs should be reserved. The Court of Appeal rejected that approach. It said the central objection raised by Mr Coughlan in the High Court was that evidence advanced by the respondents was hearsay and should not be relied on. The Court of Appeal had held that objection to be well founded.
The High Court had nevertheless granted the respondents’ application and dismissed the entire proceedings. In its principal judgment, the Court of Appeal found that decision to have been made in error and set it aside. The costs ruling reasoned that, had the High Court decided the matter correctly, the respondents’ motion would either have been dismissed or sent forward for a hearing on oral evidence. In either scenario, the Court said, Mr Coughlan would have been entitled to his costs.
The order covers costs in the Court of Appeal and the High Court. The stay means those costs are not payable until the proceedings reach final determination; the ruling does not itself determine the remitted proceedings.