Court rules on Forge Group costs

Business executives Kevin Gallagher and Neil Siford have had a small win in the Supreme Court in a costs ruling related to their long-running dispute with Forge Group.

The parties are preparing for a trial scheduled to commence in May next year and in doing so, they have been racking up large legal bills.

Forge, which is in liquidation, commenced a $200 million damages claim in 2019.

The claim is against its former shareholder, engineering firm Clough, along with Clough’s former chief executive, Mr Gallagher, and former CFO, Mr Siford.

Forge has alleged they engaged in insider trading when Clough sold its 36 per cent stake in Forge in 2013.

Forge went into liquidation one year later.

This week’s ruing relates to the cost of preparing an expert evidence schedule, which was originally ordered to be prepared in August 2020.

Forge wanted Messrs Gallagher and Siford to cover 80 per cent of its costs.

The two defendants said the appropriate order was for costs to be “in the cause” because the relevant hearings arose out of a court-ordered process and were a necessary step in the litigation for both parties.

Justice Matthew Howard ruled that the two defendants should pay 60 per cent of Forge’s costs of and incidental to the hearings on 20 February and 15 May 2024

He said this reflected two main factors.

“The preparation of an expert schedule is, especially in a large piece of litigation, important for both case management purposes and to assist the efficient hearing of a trial,” he said.

“On the contested questions, the plaintiff was not wholly successful.”