Zurich Australian Insurance Limited v CIMIC Group Limited (No 2)

This matter concerned an appeal before the Court of Appeal of New South Wales, with Zurich Australian Insurance Limited as the appellant and CIMIC Group Limited as the respondent. The dispute revolved around the appropriate allocation of costs following a complex litigation process, specifically whether an issue-based costs order should be made.

The primary legal issue before the Court of Appeal was whether to depart from the general rule that costs follow the event, and instead make an order for costs based on the success or failure of specific issues raised in the proceedings. This involved considering the extent to which different parties had succeeded or failed on discrete issues within the broader litigation.

The Court considered the various issues that had been litigated and the outcome of those issues for each party. It applied the principle that costs orders should reflect the overall success of parties, but also acknowledged that in complex litigation, an issue-based approach can be appropriate to ensure fairness. The Court meticulously detailed the allocation of costs for each identified issue, specifying which party was to pay the costs of which other parties for each particular issue, and also made orders for each party to bear their own costs in relation to certain aspects of the proceedings.