Plaintiff in personal injuries costs hearing found to have delayed proceedings by two days

Application for costs arising out of a judgment that was given in favour of the plaintiff on 1st March, 2017, whereby he was awarded damages of €84,688.52 against the defendant in respect of injuries arising out of a road traffic accident on 21st October, 2009 - counsel for the defendant submitted that when this case had been called on at the call-over of cases, it was indicated that the case would take approximately two days at hearing - based on the fact that the action had taken eight days at hearing, rather than the two days indicated at the call-over, the defendant sought his costs for six days, being the period by which the trial had been prolonged in dealing with the issue in respect of loss of earnings, on which the plaintiff was ultimately unsuccessful - counsel for the plaintiff stated that the fact that the case had ran longer than two days, was due partially, if not entirely, to the fact that there had been a preliminary motion in relation to discovery, which had been determined in favour of the plaintiff - defendant submitted that as the plaintiff had put forward a loss of earnings claim in the sum of €620,042.00, but had only been awarded the sum of €20,000.00 in respect of loss of opportunity on the job market, the plaintiff should not receive any costs connected with that issue - costs should follow the event - the court has a discretion to depart from this rule when the justice of the case so demands - just because the plaintiff’s evidence may not have been accepted by the trial judge on one aspect of the case, does not necessarily mean that he should be deprived of any portion of his costs - loss of earnings claim in the sum of €620,042.00 was found by the court to be “totally unrealistic” - counsel for the defendant had to cross-examine the plaintiff at some length in relation to his medical condition since the accident and his ability to work, both up to the trial and into the future - Court satisfied that the hearing was prolonged by approximately two days by virtue of the loss of earnings claim made by the plaintiff - plaintiff is entitled to the costs of the discovery motion, which was heard as a preliminary matter prior to the hearing of the action.