Cic Allianz Insurance Limited v Pillay (No 2)

In the case of Cic Allianz Insurance Limited v Pillay (No 2), the plaintiff sought judicial review of a decision made by a Medical Review Panel. The panel had found that the plaintiff's claim for compensation was not substantiated, leading to the refusal of the plaintiff's insurance claim. The matter came before the court to determine the appropriate allocation of costs.

The primary legal issue for the court was whether costs should follow the event, meaning the plaintiff, who was successful in their application for judicial review. An additional consideration was whether costs should be reserved pending the outcome of a new Medical Review Panel's decision to which the matter would be referred. The court needed to assess whether there were any reasons why costs should not follow the event or if there was any point of principle that necessitated reserving costs.

The court determined that there was no reason why costs should not follow the event. The plaintiff had successfully obtained judicial review of the panel's decision, and reserving costs would not serve any point of principle. The court held that costs should not be reserved pending the outcome of the new Medical Review Panel's decision. Consequently, the court ordered that the plaintiff was entitled to costs.

The final orders of the court provided that the plaintiff was to be awarded costs associated with the judicial review application, and these costs were not to be reserved pending the new Medical Review Panel's decision. This decision highlighted the importance of the principle that costs should follow the event in cases of successful judicial review applications.