Description
The Court of Appeal held that whilst in the Court of Appeal it is usual for costs to follow the event, in the instant appeal, the appropriate order was no order as to costs. The Respondent individual began proceedings in the Employment Tribunal, being a cost-free jurisdiction. Although unsuccessful at first instance, the Respondent succeeded before the Employment Appeal Tribunal. The Appellant wished to overturn a line of EAT authority and thus the Respondent was pitched against his will to come before the Court of Appeal, being a costs-bearing jurisdiction. The Court of Appeal held that it would have been very hard on the Respondent to have to cave in simply to avoid the risk of an adverse costs order against him. In determining that no order for costs was appropriate, the Court of Appeal took into account that the Respondent was impecunious and as such it was unrealistic to make a costs order against him.
