Anderson & Anor v Stonnington City Council

[2021] HCASL 254

ANDERSON & ANOR

v

STONNINGTON CITY COUNCIL

[2021] HCASL 254
M102/2020

1. The applicants seek to reopen the decision of this Court (Kiefel CJ and Gordon J) on 12 April 2021, whereby the applicants' application for special leave to appeal to this Court from the decision of the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of Victoria given on 7 September 2020 was dismissed with costs. The present application seeks to set aside this Court's order as to costs, and to substitute in its place orders that the respondent pay the applicants' costs of their special leave application and of the proceedings in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal and in the courts below.

2. It must be noted immediately that, in the application for special leave to appeal that was determined on 12 April 2021, it was stated in para 30 that "[t]here are no reasons why, if the application for special leave is refused, costs should not follow the event". Accordingly, once the application for special leave was refused, the order for costs that was made was made in conformity with the position put by the applicants.

3. In the present application the applicants argue that, notwithstanding that their application for special leave was rightly dismissed, the respondent should bear both its own and the applicants' costs of the proceedings. But they advance no reason why the principle that a party to litigation is bound by the conduct of its case should not apply. More generally, they advance no basis at all on which the decision of 12 April 2021 might properly be reopened.

4. The present application should be dismissed.

S.J. Gageler	P.A. Keane
9 December 2021