Metcash Limited v Jardim (No. 5)

Metcash Limited brought proceedings against Jardim and others for breaches of fiduciary duty and unauthorised use of confidential information. The dispute came before the Federal Court of Australia, which was required to determine the costs of the litigation. The court had to decide whether the defendants achieved partial success in relation to any issues and whether Jardim had made a compromise offer that the successful party substantially bettered. The court noted that Jardim had not achieved partial success as he was unsuccessful on the majority of issues. In contrast, the second defendant had been successful in relation to an important issue. The court found that Metcash had substantially bettered Jardim's offer of compromise, which meant that the court did not need to consider whether it was reasonable for Metcash to reject the offer at the time it was made. The court ordered that Jardim pay Metcash's costs of the proceeding.