Playford Vineyard Pty Ltd v Wishford Nominees Pty Ltd (No 2)

Playford Vineyard Pty Ltd (the plaintiff) and Wishford Nominees Pty Ltd (the defendant) were parties to litigation concerning a dispute over a vineyard. The case was heard by the Full Court of the Supreme Court of South Australia, comprising Peek, Parker and Doyle JJ.

The central legal issue before the Full Court was the appropriate order for costs, specifically in relation to the general rule that costs follow the event, and how that rule applied to the costs of particular issues that arose during the proceedings.

The Court considered the application of the "costs follow the event" principle in circumstances where a party has been successful on some issues but not others. The judges applied established principles of costs discretion, acknowledging that while the general rule is that the successful party should recover their costs, the court has a broad discretion to depart from this rule. This discretion can be exercised to reflect the outcome of specific issues, particularly where those issues have been significant in the litigation and have led to a substantial divergence in the parties' success. The court's reasoning focused on achieving a just and fair outcome in the allocation of costs, taking into account the overall conduct and result of the litigation.

The Court made orders regarding the costs of the proceedings, reflecting its determination of the issues and the overall success of each party.