The High Court has decided that DCC should pay at least some of its own costs arising from the marathon insider dealing case taken against it by Fyffes, writes Colm Keena, Public Affairs Correspondent.
The 87-day hearing where Fyffes unsuccessfully alleged insider dealing against DCC and its chief executive Jim Flavin, is believed to have given rise to legal costs of about €18 to €20 million. About 90 per cent of these costs will now have to be paid by Fyffes.
Despite the fact that costs are usually awarded to the winning party, Ms Justice Mary Laffoy decided that, in this case, DCC should shoulder some of the costs because part of its defence "added considerably to the complexity and to the duration of the case".
During the hearing, Fyffes alleged that Mr Flavin dealt in Fyffes shares on behalf of DCC, and that he was in possession of price sensitive information at the time.
Mr Flavin was a non-executive director of Fyffes at the time of the February 2000 sales.
DCC sold shares worth €106 million and made a profit of €85 million. Fyffes, had it won, would have sought return of this profit.
DCC argued that neither it nor Mr Flavin had dealt and that the dealing was done by a Dutch-registered subsidiary.
There were days of evidence heard on the matter, including tapes of Mr Flavin discussing the issue with a stockbroker involved in the sales.
Ms Justice Laffoy, in ruling on the case last year, referred to the "absurdity" of the position taken by DCC and Mr Flavin on this point.
However she also said: "I did not get the impression that the witnesses as to fact did not have a belief in the veracity of the position they were presenting." She found that Mr Flavin had dealt in the Fyffes shares.
Ms Justice Laffoy ruled that Mr Flavin had not been in possession of insider information at the time, and so Fyffes lost the case.
Yesterday, ruling on costs, she said that only "exceptional circumstances would justify departure from the general rule" that "costs should follow the event".
However, she said DCC and Mr Flavin "deliberately ignored" the reality that his connection with Fyffes was attributable to the ownership of Fyffes shares by DCC.
"That approach added considerably to the complexity and to the duration of the case," she said. "I think it would be fair and just to take that fact into account in the exercise of the court's discretion in relation to costs."
She ruled that DCC should pay 20 per cent of discovery costs in the case, and the cost of 25 of the 87 hearing days.