The Court of Appeal has ordered Siobhan Kellett to pay the appeal costs of RCL Cruises Limited and Panther Associates Limited after dismissing her personal injuries appeal.
In a costs ruling delivered on 21 October 2020, the court said its earlier order of 21 May 2020 had dismissed the appeal. The three judges had unanimously agreed on dismissal, although they expressed differing views on the legal principles applicable to claims of this kind. Each judge considered that Kellett had failed to establish a breach of a relevant standard.
Kellett asked the court to depart from the usual costs rule, arguing that the judgments had decided points of exceptional public importance and relying on other reasons in her written submissions. The court expressed no view on whether a point of exceptional public importance had been decided. It said that, even if so, this was not determinative of the appeal.
The court also rejected the case for dividing costs between issues. It found Kellett had not succeeded on a discrete issue that would justify such an order. Even assuming she had prevailed on an identifiable point of law, the court said there was nothing to suggest that consideration of it had materially affected the overall costs of the litigation.
The ruling referred to principles for splitting costs where a successful party loses on an identifiable issue that materially increases costs and those costs can readily be separated. The court described such an order as exceptional and said those conditions were not met here.
It also distinguished the personal injuries claim, which sought damages for Kellett’s personal benefit, from cases where unsuccessful plaintiffs had received some costs after raising far-reaching constitutional issues necessary for the court’s decision.
The court directed that the appeal stand dismissed, with the costs of the appeal awarded to the respondents: RCL Cruises Limited, Panther Associates Limited trading as Cruise Holidays, and Panther Associates Limited trading as Tour America.