Orders as to costs have been made by McMeekin J in Kerle v BM Alliance Coal Operations Pty Limited & Ors (No 2) [2017] QSC 7.
His Honour considered the respective tests and their application to an award for indemnity costs where the Plaintiff beat his mandatory offers both under PIPA and WCRA and where the Plaintiff had beaten a formal offer under the UCPR which was not technically compliant with the rules. The relevance of a novel case on liability was considered. Indemnity costs were ordered against the employer but not the PIPA defendants. His Honour also apportioned costs between the Defendants in accordance with the apportionment of liability.
Geoffrey Diehm QC with Andrew Luchich, Richard Douglas QC and Rebecca Treston QC of Hemmant’s List appeared for respective parties. See the judgment here: http://archive.sclqld.org.au/qjudgment/2017/QSC17-007.pdf
