Trouton v Trouton (No 2)

The case of Trouton v Trouton (No 2) involved a dispute between the plaintiff and the defendants, with the matter being heard in a relevant Australian court. The case included both a claim by the plaintiff and a counterclaim by the defendants. The central issue in the case was whether certain offers made by the defendants to settle the dispute could be considered under the rules governing offers of compromise, and if so, how they should be compared with the net results of the judgments on the claim and counterclaim. The court was also required to determine whether the Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 1999 (UCPR) applied to the defendants' offer to settle and, if the plaintiff was entirely unsuccessful on their claim while the defendants were partly successful and partly unsuccessful on the counterclaim, whether the court had discretion to decide on the costs under rule 681 of the UCPR.

The court examined the nature of the defendants' offer, which was an all-up sum without distinction between the claim and counterclaim. It also considered the agreement between the parties that each should bear their own costs in respect of the counterclaim. The court determined that the rules concerning offers of compromise and the general principle that costs follow the event did not apply in this context, given the specific circumstances of the case. The court found that the defendants' offer to settle could not be compared with the net result of the judgments on the claim and counterclaim, and that the court had discretion to decide on the costs under rule 681 of the UCPR.

Following this reasoning, the court made specific orders. It directed that the plaintiff pay the defendants’ costs calculated on the indemnity basis in respect of the plaintiff’s claim, including reserved costs. Additionally, the court ordered that each party bear their own costs in respect of the counterclaim. This outcome was based on the court's assessment of the procedural aspects of the case, the nature of the offers made, and the ultimate results of the judgments.