Copper (Qld) Investment Pte Ltd v Hallion (No 2)

[2025] VSCA 338

Victorian Court of Appeal

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Interrogate

Catchwords

1. Costs
2. › Mortgages
3. › Mortgagee's entitlement to costs
4. › General law and rules of court
5. › Where nothing owed under mortgage
6. › Whether mortgagee entitled to costs or required to pay mortgagor's costs
7. › Supreme Court Act 1986 (Vic), s 24
8. › Supreme Court (General Civil Procedure) Rules 2025 (Vic), rr 63.13, 63.26
1. Costs
2. › Mortgages
3. › Contractual provisions as to costs
4. › Whether costs discretion should be exercised in accordance with contract
5. › Exclusion clause covering 'purported exercise' of power
6. › Indemnity clause covering 'exercise or attempted exercise' of power
7. › Whether clauses extend to costs of unsuccessful litigation
1. Costs
2. › Calderbank offers
3. › Whether rejection of offer unreasonable
4. › Where offer substantially less than amount in dispute
1. Costs
2. › Apportionment
3. › Mixed success
4. › Where trial costs unreasonably incurred in part
5. › Pragmatic approach to apportionment

Quick Take

A contractual clause excluding a mortgagee's liability for the 'purported exercise' of powers under a mortgage is broader than an indemnity clause covering 'exercise or attempted exercise' and may influence the court's costs discretion even where the mortgagee is wholly unsuccessful, but the court retains discretion to depart from the contractual position where costs have been unreasonably incurred.