Costs

It was settled law that the discretion whether to order security for costs in the case of a company would be a balancing exercise, weighing the injustice to the defendant if no security was ordered and the claimant failed at trial. All the circumstances of the case ought to be taken into account, including the claimant’s prospects of success but the court should not go into the merits in detail unless it could clearly be demonstrated that there would be a high degree of probability of success or failure. Further, it would be necessary for the claimant to investigate all possibilities of obtaining financial support, including its directors, shareholders, other backers or interested persons, to put up security for costs before the court could satisfy itself that the claim would be stifled.