The High Court ruled that a County Registrar’s system for taxing costs in “standard” or “ordinary” cases was unlawful and beyond her powers, and ordered Cork City Council to pay specified costs of a successful judicial review brought by Richard O’Donovan.
In a judgment delivered on 5 May 2021, Ms Justice Murphy said the system measured legal costs partly by reference to the damages award, rather than the work done. The court said the established process assessed costs by reference to work done, and that the County Registrar had no legislative authority to create her own scale.
The challenge followed a personal injuries claim arising from a 2012 bicycle accident. O’Donovan alleged he fell after his bicycle hit a pothole on a public road. His claim against the council settled shortly before trial for €9,500, plus costs to be taxed if the parties could not agree.
His solicitor later submitted a bill of costs totalling €37,756.83. The council tendered €10,201, calculated by reference to the County Registrar’s scale. After O’Donovan sought taxation, the Registrar allowed €9,712.83. The judgment records that the taxation took about 15 minutes and that the cost accountant representing O’Donovan said the Registrar did not review the papers. Those details were reported in a post-taxation account exhibited in the proceedings.
O’Donovan was granted leave to seek judicial review in January 2018. The County Registrar did not participate. The Attorney General later conceded O’Donovan’s entitlement to certiorari and remittal for a rehearing before a different County Registrar, but disputed whether the council should pay his judicial review costs. The council did not oppose the review.
The court held that the council was responsible for the legal error because it had invoked and supported the scale over a period of years. It had based its tender on the scale, maintained at taxation that the case was “standard”, and sought repayment after the taxed amount was lower than its tender. The judge rejected the council’s argument that O’Donovan should have used an appeal to the Circuit Court instead.
The court said it would grant certiorari, remit the taxation to a different County Registrar and grant declaratory relief, with the precise form of the declarations to be heard. It ordered the council to pay the costs of preparing and making the ex parte application, preparing and serving the motion, the first adjournment on 6 March 2018, and the uncontested judicial review hearing on 30 November 2018. Correspondence with the Chief State Solicitor about the County Registrar was excluded from that order. The court also gave the council liberty to apply on the costs of arguing the costs issue, ahead of final orders on 19 May 2021.