Aeini v Ghaemi

The Full Court of the Supreme Court of South Australia heard an appeal concerning an application for costs made by the respondent, Mr. Ghaemi, following the dismissal of the appellant's, Mr. Aeini's, application for an interlocutory injunction. Mr. Aeini had sought to restrain Mr. Ghaemi from proceeding with a claim in the Magistrates Court, but his application was dismissed by a single judge. Mr. Ghaemi then sought costs of that dismissed application.

The central legal issue before the Full Court was whether the single judge had erred in law in refusing to award costs to Mr. Ghaemi in circumstances where Mr. Aeini's application for an interlocutory injunction had been dismissed. Specifically, the court had to consider the principles governing the award of costs in interlocutory proceedings and whether the judge had failed to properly exercise their discretion in this regard.

The Full Court held that the single judge had indeed erred in law. Their Honours reasoned that the general rule that costs follow the event, meaning the unsuccessful party pays the successful party's costs, should ordinarily apply to interlocutory applications unless there are specific reasons to depart from it. In this instance, Mr. Aeini was the unsuccessful party in the interlocutory application, and Mr. Ghaemi was the successful party. The court found no exceptional circumstances that justified departing from the usual rule.

Consequently, the Full Court allowed the appeal and ordered that Mr. Ghaemi be awarded the costs of the interlocutory application heard by the single judge.