The High Court has awarded the Health Service Executive and an anonymised hospital the costs of judicial review proceedings brought by an anonymised applicant. The costs are to be adjudicated if the parties cannot agree. The court stayed the costs order through the period for bringing an appeal and, if an appeal is maintained, until the first directions date before the Court of Appeal.
In a judgment delivered on 17 December 2021, Ms Justice Miriam O’Regan said the applicant’s judicial review had already been refused in a written judgment dated 1 December. The application was rejected primarily because the issues arose solely from an individual private law contract and were not amenable to judicial review. The earlier judgment also addressed the substance of the applicant’s arguments in case that conclusion was wrong.
The judge said the respondents had been entirely successful for the purposes of section 169(1) of the Legal Services Regulation Act 2015. That provision generally entitles an entirely successful party in civil proceedings to costs, subject to the court’s discretion and the circumstances of the case.
The court found no conduct by either side that warranted changing the usual costs position. It said no issue had been raised, pursued or contested unreasonably, and the parties’ conduct had not prolonged the hearing or otherwise justified interfering with the costs outcome.
The respondents had offered, by letter dated 5 March 2021, to agree to no order as to costs if the applicant withdrew the proceedings within seven days. The applicant argued that the judgment was the first published Irish High Court decision on COVID-related circulars and was therefore novel. Justice O’Regan said the circular at issue, HR Circular 34/2020, had been considered only through the applicant’s claim. She was not satisfied that the judgment had far-reaching importance or involved exceptional circumstances.
The applicant sought a stay on costs pending an appeal. The court granted a stay until the period for bringing an appeal expires. If an appeal is brought, the stay continues until the Court of Appeal’s first directions date.