Roberts-Smith v Fairfax Media Publications Pty Limited (No 45) [2023] FCA 1474

Federal Court of Australia

Roberts-Smith v Fairfax Media Publications Pty Limited (No 45) [2023] FCA 1474 File numbers: NSD 1485 of 2018 NSD 1486 of 2018 NSD 1487 of 2018

Judgment of: BESANKO J

Date of judgment: 28 November 2023

Catchwords: COSTS — application by respondents seeking an order that their costs be paid by the applicant on an indemnity basis — where applicant unsuccessful in three defamation proceedings — where applicant accepts that he must pay the respondents' costs on an indemnity basis from 11 am on 18 March 2020 given his rejection of a Notice of offer to compromise — whether the applicant should pay costs on an indemnity basis from the commencement of the proceedings in August 2018 — where respondents contend that indemnity costs payable based on the applicant's knowledge of the truth of a number of the imputations from the commencement of the proceedings and findings made in the principal reasons — whether, in the alternative, indemnity costs should be paid from June 2019 after the applicant rejected an offer to settle conveyed by a Calderbank letter — held the applicant should pay the respondents' costs from the commencement of the proceedings COSTS — question of costs in relation to two interlocutory applications brought by the respondents and heard and determined by another judge of the court — where issue was whether the respondents had established a prima facie case of fraud — where respondents unsuccessful in each application but submit they should have the costs of the applications in light of findings made in the principal reasons — where applicant contends the applications were self-contained and the proper order is that each party bear their own costs — held the costs of the two applications should be costs in the proceedings