Banksia Securities Ltd v Insurance House Pty Ltd (Costs)

Banksia Securities Limited, the plaintiff, and Insurance House Pty Limited, the defendant, were involved in a legal dispute which was heard in the Federal Court of Australia. The plaintiff sought costs associated with litigation funding, specifically a commission from the litigation funder, which the defendant opposed. The plaintiff also sought costs related to the approval of a settlement of a third party claim, which the defendant argued should be excluded from the pre-trial order concerning costs.

The court had to determine the appropriateness of the plaintiff's application for the litigation funding commission and whether such an application was tenable. Additionally, the court needed to clarify the extent to which the pre-trial order for costs applied to the expenses incurred during the approval of the settlement of the third party claim.

In its decision, the court found that the plaintiff's application for the litigation funding commission had no basis and was untenable. The court also noted that the plaintiff had persisted with the application despite it being clearly untenable. Concerning the pre-trial order, the court concluded that there was no point of principle that would exclude the costs incurred in approving the settlement of the third party claim from the order. The court held that the pre-trial order applied to these costs, affirming the plaintiff's entitlement to recover them from the defendant.

The court's final orders reflected these conclusions, denying the plaintiff's application for the litigation funding commission and affirming the plaintiff's entitlement to recover costs related to the approval of the settlement of the third party claim from the defendant.