Court throws out Wagners’ claim for indemnity costs

The Wagner family has been denied a higher court payout in its Alan Jones case appeal.

(L-R) Joe, John, Dennis and Neill Wagner speak to the media outside the Supreme Court in Brisbane, Wednesday, September 12, 2018. Alan Jones and his team have been ordered to pay a record $3.7 million in compensation for defaming a Queensland family by claiming they were responsible for 12 deaths in the 2011 Lockyer Valley floods. (AAP Image/Darren England) NO ARCHIVING

APPEAL costs for Toowoomba's powerful Wagner family will not be assessed on an indemnity basis, a court has ruled.

It comes after Alan Jones, his radio station's parent company Harbour Radio and Brisbane station 4BC failed to lift an injunction preventing them from repeating defamatory statements against the Queensland family.

The trio were sued by Denis, John, Neill and Joe Wagner over Jones's comments about the deadly 2011 Grantham floods.

The Wagner brothers were awarded more than $3.6 million in damages and an injunction was imposed ordering Jones not to repeat the comments.

Jones, Harbour Radio and 4BC appealed the decision in 2019 but the order was upheld.

They were ordered to pay the Wagners' appeal costs but the brothers applied for an order that the costs be assessed on an indemnity basis.

Indemnity costs are generally higher than costs typically awarded to successful parties.

The Wagners argued the appellants failed to accept any offers for settlement.

Justices Hugh Fraser, Martin Burns and Phillip Morrison refused the order, saying such an offer could only be accepted if all the appellants agreed.

"The rejection of the appellants' grounds of appeal does not of itself suggest that any appellant did not have a reasonably arguable basis for pursuing an appeal against the trial judge's decision to grant injunctions," Justice Fraser wrote. - NewsRegional

Originally published as Court throws out Wagners’ claim for indemnity costs