1Where a summary judgment application is dismissed without a hearing on the merits due to a supervening event (here, the filing of amended defences that materially altered the issues), the case falls within the second Burchett J category from ONE.TEL v Deputy Commissioner of Taxation, and the ordinary course is that neither party bears the other's costs unless distinguishing circumstances exist.
2A party who fails to promptly abandon an application after receiving material that renders it inutile may be ordered to pay the opposing party's costs from the date that material was served, even where the overall costs of the application are otherwise reserved.
3A fixed or gross sum costs order requires sufficient evidence that the amounts claimed are reasonable and that assessment would be protracted and expensive; the mere possibility of dispute on assessment is insufficient, and the absence of independent material supporting reasonableness may preclude such an order.
