New Zealand Case Law: Decisions & Judgments

29 May 2023

SHARMA v CRAFT CONSTRUCTION LIMITED (IN LIQUIDATION) [2023] NZHC 1294

Citation: [2023] NZHC 1294
Court: High Court

Increased costs awarded (50% uplift of 2B scale) because the first defendant/liquidators, without reasonable justification, persisted in the position that the plaintiff's complex, expert-dependent claim should be dealt with under s 304 by the liquidators and thereby failed to accept a cogent legal argument, contributing unnecessarily to the applicant's costs contrary to r 14.6(3)(b)(iii); costs against liquidators personally were refused because no exceptional impropriety or bad faith was demonstrated; travel and filing fee disbursements were recoverable as reasonable and necessary.

NAYACAKALOU v MINISTER OF EDUCATION [2017] NZHC 1210

Citation

[2017] NZHC 1210

Court

High Court

The Minister was the substantially successful party; the liquidator had acted unreasonably and sought to be excused from statutory duties, so fairness to creditors required that costs be awarded personally against the liquidator rather than from company assets; the claimed 2B scale quantum and disbursements were reasonable and awarded accordingly.