Duke Group (in Liq) v Pilmer & Ors (No.4) No. Scciv-92-1874

The case before the South Australian Supreme Court involves Duke Group (in liquidation) as the plaintiff, and Pilmer and others as defendants. The dispute revolves around the takeover of Western United Ltd by Duke, and the alleged incompetence in the preparation of a report by the defendants regarding the takeover price. Duke claims that the report was prepared incompetently, and that the directors breached their duties owed to Duke. The trial was extensive, occupying 471 sitting days, and the trial judge found in favor of Duke, awarding damages of $93,863,796.81 including interest. The defendants appealed against the trial judge's decision, and the Full Court upheld most of the findings, increasing the amount of damages awarded to Duke. The High Court later allowed an appeal by one of the defendants, reducing the damages payable by that defendant to Duke. The Full Court was required to decide on the orders to be made in light of the High Court's decision, and also on the costs of the trial and appeal. The court exercised its broad discretion in determining the costs, taking into account the successes and failures on distinct issues argued in the case. The court varied the orders to reflect the High Court's decision, and also considered the relevance of the associations evidence to the claim in contract and in tort. The court concluded that the trial judge's decision on costs had not been undermined by the High Court's order, and that the onus was on the defendants to show that the trial judge was in error. The court did not interfere with the trial judge's orders on costs, and invited the parties to prepare minutes of order reflecting the decision of the court.