SEARLE & PENCIOUS

In the matter of *Searle & Pencious*, heard before Macmillan J, the dispute concerned an application for costs on an indemnity basis. The wife sought these costs following orders made declaring the husband a vexatious litigant.

The primary legal issue before the court was whether to award the wife her costs of and incidental to a specific application on an indemnity basis, and if so, to fix that amount. This question arose in circumstances where the wife's application to have the husband declared a vexatious litigant, while costly, was deemed necessary to bring the protracted litigation to an end.

Macmillan J reasoned that the husband's conduct throughout the proceedings provided clear justification for departing from the general principles regarding costs. The court found that the wife was wholly successful in her application and that the husband's conduct warranted an award of indemnity costs. Consequently, the court ordered the husband to pay the wife's costs of and incidental to the Application in a Case filed 24 April 2015 on an indemnity basis, fixed at $64,977.32. These costs were to be paid from specific trust funds. The application for further costs incidental to the wife's application was otherwise dismissed.