St George Bank - A Division of Westpac Banking Corporation (formerly St George Bank Ltd) v Jin

[2013] NSWCA 306

NSW Court of Appeal

View on CaseLaw

Built by Barristers,
For Australian Law.

See how it works

Interrogate

Catchwords

1. Practice and Procedure
2. › Costs
3. › General rule — costs follow the event
4. › Whether reasonableness of unsuccessful party's conduct relevant to displacing general rule
5. › Multiparty litigation
6. › Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 (NSW), r 42.1
1. Practice and Procedure
2. › Costs
3. › Multiparty litigation
4. › Sanderson orders and Bullock orders
5. › Whether failure to address alternative submission for Sanderson order warranted leave to appeal
1. Appeal
2. › Leave to appeal
3. › Costs orders
4. › Threshold for grant of leave
5. › Whether issue of principle, question of general importance, or reasonably clear injustice shown
6. › Supreme Court Act 1970 (NSW), s 101(2)(c)

Quick Take

The reasonableness of an unsuccessful party's conduct in defending proceedings is irrelevant to the costs discretion where the proceedings have been determined and there is a clear 'event' — costs follow the event. The principle from Lai Qin that reasonableness of conduct is relevant to costs applies only where proceedings have been compromised and there is no 'event'. In multiparty litigation, a Sanderson order shifting costs to a third party requires the applicant to show conduct by the unsuccessful defendant that would make it fair to impose liability; a successful party should not be left to bear the solvency risk of a fraudster joined by the unsuccessful party.