Indaver to pay costs due to case conduct

A company’s conduct of its action over being refused permission for a waste incinerator in Co Cork amounted to an abuse of process and it must pay the substantial legal costs of a residents group and An Bord Pleanála, the High Court has ruled.

While Indaver NV, trading as Indaver Ireland, withdrew its judicial review challenge on the eve of the hearing last October, its conduct of the case allowed the legal costs of An Bord Pleanála and residents escalate almost as if the case was going to full hearing, the President of the High Court, Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns, said.

Chase (Cork Harbour Alliance for a Safe Environment) participated in the planning process concerning Indaver’s application and the judicial review action “at very great personal and financial cost to its members and the communities supporting it”, Mr Justice Kearns said.

While Indaver would ordinarily be protected under the Planning Development Act 2000 from a costs order against it, the court would apply a special provision of that Act permitting an award of costs against a party due to the manner in which it conducted proceedings, he ruled.