No special circumstances justifying departure from usual rule on costs where proceedings were dismissed for delay

High Court – costs ruling – court held that the plaintiff’s delay was inordinate and inexcusable – balance of justice lay in favour of dismissing the proceedings – lapse of time between discussions and negotiations in 1999 and trial in 2022 at the earlier – substantial risk of unjust result – judicial discretion to be exercised within the guardrails of relevant principles and statutory provisions – justice must require a departure from the normal rule that costs follow the event – defendants entirely successful in their application – special circumstances – hybrid claim – specific performance claim and claim for damages in lieu of specific performance – planning refused in 2017, damages in lieu of specific performance required a transfer to the High Court – contended it would be unfair not to fashion a costs order in favour of the Plaintiff for the Circuit Court costs – defendants made their positions clear in correspondence – plaintiff's claim as without merit in light of the facts – Circuit Court costs orders should stand – trial of proceedings avoided does not entitle the Plaintiff to any savings in costs to date – periods of forbearance given to the defendant to reach a solution – discount should be applied to reflect this – forbearance were taken into account when the court considered the motion to dismiss – unsuccessful in their contentions that this forbearance provided an answer to the motion – not a special circumstance to depart from the usual rule – receivership of third named defendant does not justify penalising the successful party in respect of costs – plaintiff gave the defendants considerable latitude and trust to honour their agreement – no adverse findings in respect of the conduct before or during proceedings – defendants offered to pay their own costs if the matter was struck out – made clear in correspondence they would seek their costs – patent injustice not to award the costs in the present case – defendants entitled to the entire costs of the motion to dismiss and the proceedings, including Circuit Court proceedings and any reserved and discovery costs to be adjudicated in default of agreement.