Federal Court (Full Court). Although the Applicant's case was “novel” in the sense that there was an absence of judicial consideration of PIC 4003(b), is this alone insufficient to justify departure from the rule that costs should follow the event?
Some of the questions to the Full Court of the Federal Court (FCAFC) were as follows:
Question 1: Although the Applicant's case was “novel” in the sense that there was an absence of judicial consideration of PIC 4003(b), is this alone insufficient to justify departure from the rule that costs should follow the event?
Question 2: Can it be said that the fact that the Applicant "has acted reasonably in the conduct of the litigation does not justify depriving the Ministers of costs orders in their favour nor does it weigh in favour of an award of costs on the basis upon which [the Applicant] seeks them, that is fixed in accordance with Pt 2 of Sch 2 to the Rules"?
The FCAFC answered those questions as follows: