JAB v the executors of the estate of MST (No. 2)

In the case of JAB v the executors of the estate of MST (No. 2), the plaintiff, JAB, pursued claims against the estate of her deceased former de facto partner, MST. The claims were dismissed in earlier proceedings, and the defendants, the executors of MST's estate, sought indemnity costs for the entirety of the proceedings, or alternatively, from a specific date when one of the settlement offers was made. The primary focus of the court was to determine whether JAB unreasonably rejected multiple settlement offers and, if so, whether the defendants were entitled to indemnity costs.

The court was required to consider the principles surrounding indemnity costs, particularly focusing on the plaintiff's conduct in rejecting settlement offers. It was necessary to assess whether JAB's refusal to accept the settlement offers was reasonable or if it was an unreasonable course of action that warranted indemnity costs in favour of the defendants.

The court concluded that JAB had unreasonably rejected the settlement offers. It found that the offers were fair and that JAB had no valid reason to reject them. Consequently, the court held that the defendants were entitled to indemnity costs from the date one of the settlement offers was made, up until the end of the proceedings. The court ordered that JAB pay the defendants' costs of the proceedings, assessed on the standard basis until 11 August 2021, and on an indemnity basis thereafter.