In building contract arbitrations involving claims and cross-claims, the successful party for costs purposes is the party who secures the final balance — the party to whom the final flow of money is directed. An arbitrator may depart from this rule only where special circumstances connected with the conduct or outcome of the dispute are identified, but the threshold for departure is lower than the 'wildly exaggerated claims' standard suggested in Hudson. The Scherer v Counting Instruments proposition about unjustified recourse to court is not a separate test for identifying the successful party but merely an illustration of the rationale underlying the normal costs rule.
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