“On 3 May, the Judge [is Pumfrey J] heard Mr Kotonou’s application to adjourn the guarantee proceedings and to substitute for them the hearing of the relief asked for in the mortgage proceedings. This was Mr Kotonou’s application dated 22 April. In the alternative to that relief, Mr Kotonou asked for the trial of the action to be adjourned. The hearing went over 3 May to 6 May and at the end of it the Judge adjourned the trial, but he did not grant the primary relief Mr Kotonou was seeking. In his judgment, the Judge said that neither side had won. He then adjourned the hearing to enable Mr Kotonou to produce concrete proposals in relation to a new mortgage to secure funding for his representation and in relation to the question of priority of that new mortgage over the Bank’s existing charge. The costs of those two hearings were not dealt with by the Judge and were in effect simply left to be dealt with at the next hearing, which was on 27 May. At that hearing there were proposals and counter-proposals put forward and at the end the Judge sent the parties off to discuss the matter further, and all the costs were, in effect, left to be dealt with at the next hearing, which took place on1 July 2005 . The parties eventually came to terms in relation to further funding and its priority over the Bank’s charge, and that agreement was incorporated into the order of the court of1 July 2005 . That order included an order that the two sets of proceedings should be heard together, not because the Judge had so ruled but because the parties had agreed to such a direction.”
“As to costs the Judge said that the proper order was to adjourn all questions of costs to the trial Judge.”
“I think this is a case in which I ought to reserve costs, ought to, not just not do so as a result of the range of various orders open to me largely because I think that if a serious case as to unreasonableness either way or ‘misleadingness’ comes out, I should not have pre-empted the costs decisions. I think this is something to be dealt with at trial.”
“I have been considering this since last night, what I ought to do about costs on the footing of the consent this morning. I came to the very clear conclusion that this is one where I ought to reserve. I think the interests of justice require it.”
“It seems to me that the proper order is to adjourn all questions of cost to the judge taking the trial of the two applications. As I say, I will be very reluctant to do anything else and certainly not to restrict it to the Part 8 proceedings. In fact the Part 8 proceedings are properly viewed as wholly ancillary to the guarantee proceedings because the Part 8 proceedings are actually only there to raise the funds for the hearing.”
“It is unclear what, if anything, he [Pumfrey J] had in mind might happen afterwards that would put the trial Judge in a better position than he was in to judge where the costs before him should fall. Certainly, it was not the actual outcome of the mortgage proceedings. If anything, it was the outcome of the guarantee proceedings, but I do not think that he had that in mind either. Essentially, the hearings before the Judge resulted in a settlement as a matter of agreement between the parties, an agreement which the court had no power to impose upon them. In my judgment, the costs of those hearings, in the absence of agreement between the parties, is that they should lie where they fall.”
“The first question for this court is not whether it would have made the order which the judge made. The first question is whether this court is satisfied that the basis upon which the judge reached the conclusion that he did has been shown to be flawed. It is only if that question is answered in the affirmative that this court can properly interfere with the exercise of the judge of the discretion entrusted to him. It is only then that this court will go on to consider what order it would make in the exercise of its own discretion.”
“But it is not only the fact of separate issues which justifies such a departure. In my judgment, Mr Kotonou unreasonably and improperly raised those further allegations, which turned out to be untrue, and the allegation of fraud against upright Bank officials was wholly unjustified.”
“(6) The orders which the court may make under this rule [rule 44.3] include an order that a party must pay – (f) costs relating only to a distinct part of the proceedings.” (f) costs relating only to a distinct part of the proceedings.”
“I think that I am well placed to translate the contribution of the issues on which Mr Kotonou lost and that on which he succeeded into broad percentages.”
“An issue based approach requires a judge to consider, issue by issue in relation to those issues to which that approach is to be applied, where the costs on each distinct or discrete issue should fall. If, in relation to any issue in the case before it the court considers that it should adopt an issue based approach to costs, the court must ask itself which party has been successful on that issue. Then, if the costs are to follow the event on that issue, the party who has been unsuccessful on that issue must expect to pay the costs of that issue of the party who has succeeded on that issue. That is the effect of applying the general principle on an issue by issue based approach to costs.”
“I am conscious of the fact (having regard to the estimated costs I have been given) that on a detailed assessment that [the 50/50 split] will mean that there would be a net payment by Mr Kotonou, because the Bank’s costs are likely to be greater than his. If that is the consequence on a detailed assessment, so be it. I have thought long and hard about this and, as I have indicated, I have taken into account the fact that, at the end, of the day Mr Kotonou has won (and, indeed, won on an issue which, if it had been conceded at the start of the trial, would have meant that the extravagant allegations on which he lost would not have needed to have been investigated at all). Standing back and taking everything I have mentioned into account, my judgment is that the appropriate order is as I have stated above.”