West & Ors v Blackgrove & Anor

[2012] QCA 321

Queensland Court of Appeal

Built by Barristers,
For Australian Law.

See how it works

Interrogate

Catchwords

1. Practice and Procedure
2. › Costs
3. › Discretion of the court
4. › General rule that costs follow the event
5. › Departure from general rule
6. › Whether primary judge failed to have regard to material facts and considerations
7. › Whether respondents attributed greater degree of success than actually achieved
8. › Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 1999 (Qld), r 681(1)
1. Appeal
2. › General civil appeal
3. › Costs order
4. › Standard of appellate review of costs discretion
5. › Whether appellable error established
6. › Whether discretion miscarried by failure to consider relevant matters
1. Succession
2. › Administration of estate
3. › Distribution
4. › Matters relating to beneficiaries
5. › Dispute between executor and beneficiaries over estate property
6. › Whether respondents prevented sale of property registered in name of executor's wife
1. Evidence
2. › Opinion evidence
3. › Expert evidence
4. › Whether correspondence from real estate agents admissible to prove property value
5. › Whether valuation evidence sufficient to prove loss

Quick Take

A costs order may be set aside on appeal where the primary judge treats an interlocutory application as discrete from the broader litigation of which it forms part, attributes to a party a greater degree of success than actually achieved, or fails to consider the overall conduct of the litigation including the influence of threats on the other party's behaviour. In estate disputes, a party who registers property solely in their own name and could sell it at any time is not prevented from selling merely by threats of legal action or the lodging of caveats that are rejected by the Registrar.