The Court ordered indemnity costs from the commencement of proceedings against a liquidator whose breaches of the paramount duty and overarching obligations under the Civil Procedure Act 2010 were found to have 'discoloured the whole character of the proceeding from start to finish', applying Actrol Parts v Coppi (No 3). The Court declined to apportion costs on an issue-by-issue basis where the primary claims and counterclaim were intrinsically intertwined, notwithstanding the defendants' failure to establish all expanded counterclaim grounds. The Court refused a non-party costs order against the Commonwealth as FEG Act litigation funder, distinguishing its statutory public interest role from that of a commercial litigation funder, while expressly leaving open that the Commonwealth is not immune from such orders in circumstances involving more critical conduct or direction of proceedings.
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