25 Oct 2023
The plaintiff's Calderbank offer was insufficient to justify reversing the ordinary costs order because it was low, excluded costs, and the defendants were not unreasonable in declining it; accordingly the defendants were entitled to 2B costs and disbursements as per their schedule and may halt further steps if those costs are not paid within the time ordered.
24 Oct 2023
MBMGL was awarded costs on a 2B scale including allowance for the amended statement of claim and sums arising from the second statutory demand; a 25% uplift was granted because CPL unreasonably failed to explore or accept MBMGL's Calderbank offer; an additional 0.4 day was allowed for the original costs memorandum; costs, once sealed, will attract interest until paid.
13 Oct 2023
Indemnity costs were not justified because Westwind's application primarily benefited itself (sale and correction of its own defective development), the circumstances differed materially from May, and the Calderbank offer was conditional, unquantified and not readily comparable to the litigation outcome; accordingly costs were awarded on a 2B scale in specified amounts.
28 Sept 2023
The Court dismissed the Crown's costs application and ordered costs to lie where they fall because the plaintiff achieved significant vindication of BORA rights (declarations and $18,000 damages), his self-representation resulted from prior counsel failings, the Calderbank offer did not amount to full concession of BORA breaches, and public interest and BORA considerations meant awarding costs would risk chilling meritorious public rights litigation.
29 Aug 2023
Court awarded costs in favour of the defendant on the 2B scale with specific modifications: certified second counsel; declined to reallocate further steps to band A; consolidated multiple inspections of discovery into a single Band C claim; calculated preparation for briefs and hearing on the actual 10-day hearing length (not the originally scheduled 13 days); applied a 35% uplift to scale costs for all steps after the Calderbank offer dated 22 June 2021 for unreasonable refusal and pursuit of unmeritorious arguments; reduced BMC consulting fees to $60,000 to reflect duplication with subseque…
30 Jun 2023
No indemnity or increased costs awarded; defendants' defence to the disputed GST component was not hopeless and rejection of the settlement offer was not unreasonable; plaintiffs entitled only to scale 2B costs and disbursements as assessed.
6 Jun 2023
Costs awarded to defendants on a 2B basis with specific items allowed and disallowed after review of the file and submissions; Calderbank offer did not result in indemnity costs because defendants did not previously quantify costs for steps after the offer and did not press the point sufficiently; earlier costs awarded to plaintiff could not be set off because they were awarded against a different defendant.
29 Mar 2023
Although the plaintiff succeeded in setting aside the defendant's protest because the High Court proceeding was not an application under the PRA, unresolved relationship property issues meant the efficient course was to have all relationship property disputes determined in the Family Court; given the plaintiff's inefficient forum choice and lack of persuasive Calderbank effect, costs were ordered to lie where they fall.
28 Feb 2023
Section 45(2) protection applies to costs in proceedings to which a legal aid grant attaches, including relevant prior steps unless a costs liability has already crystallised; the defendants failed to establish the requisite exceptional circumstances under s45(2); accordingly no costs order may be made against the legally aided plaintiff, although under s45(5) the court specifies the costs that would have been ordered had aid not applied (2B scale plus disbursements).
28 Feb 2023
The intervenor was entitled to costs because CIL persisted with an unmeritorious claim (interest on the entire purchase price) that made the hearing unnecessary in light of a prior Calderbank offer to pay contractual interest on the deposit; costs were awarded on the 2B scale with a 50% uplift for preparation of submissions and hearing attendance for which indemnity was sought, and 2B costs for the remaining steps, plus disbursements fixed by the Registrar.