St George Bank - a Division of Westpac Banking Corporation (formerly St George Bank Ltd) v Jin

St George Bank - a Division of Westpac Banking Corporation (formerly St George Bank Ltd) sought leave to appeal from an order as to costs made in the primary proceedings. The application for leave to appeal concerned the principles governing the exercise of a costs discretion in multi-party litigation.

The central legal issue before the Court of Appeal was whether the primary judge had erred in principle in making the costs order. The applicant contended that the costs order was not a proper exercise of discretion, implying a need to demonstrate an error of principle rather than merely disagreeing with the outcome.

The Court of Appeal found no error of principle in the costs order made by the primary judge. The Court applied the well-established principles governing appellate review of costs discretion, which require a demonstration of a material error of law or principle for interference. As no such error was identified, the application for leave to appeal was refused.

Leave to appeal was refused, and the applicant was ordered to pay the costs of the application.