Makowska v St George Community Housing Limited

The applicant, Ms Makowska, sought leave to appeal a decision of the primary court against the respondent, St George Community Housing Limited. The dispute concerned an application for costs following the determination of the substantive proceedings.

The primary legal issue before the Court of Appeal was whether the applicant should be ordered to pay the respondent's costs of the summons, notwithstanding the general rule that costs follow the event. This question required consideration of the relevance of the Model Litigant Policy for Civil Litigation in circumstances where an offer of compromise had been rejected and the applicant had not achieved a better outcome than that offer.

The Court of Appeal dismissed the summons seeking leave to appeal. The Court found that the applicant had not achieved a better outcome than the offer of compromise made by the respondent. In light of this, and applying the general rule that costs follow the event, the Court ordered the applicant to pay the respondent's costs of the summons.