New Zealand Case Law: Decisions & Judgments

Topic

Costs against non-parties

Legal area

Court

27 May 2021

T A O’BRIEN AND ANOR v MODERN BUILT INVESTMENTS [2021] NZHC 1203

Citation

[2021] NZHC 1203
Court

High Court

Second counsel costs were not certified; additional three days for discovery and inspection were justified; plaintiffs awarded 2B scale costs (reduced for disallowed second counsel) uplifted 100% to reflect respondent director's unreasonable and prejudicial conduct but not rising to full indemnity; costs and disbursements ordered to be paid personally by Mr Spiers because he controlled the litigation for his own benefit.
10 Aug 2020

SMITH v BALL [2020] NZHC 1976

Citation

[2020] NZHC 1976
Court

High Court

Roger Ball was a party who successfully defended the personal claims; therefore non-party costs principles do not apply and no costs order could be made against him personally. The defendants' conduct did not meet the high thresholds required for indemnity or increased costs (no flagrant misconduct, vexatious or knowingly false evidence established, and pre-litigation conduct not determinative). Consequential extra attendances and previous scale awards addressed specific timetabling failures; overall the proper award is 2B scale costs against Crystal Mint Developments Ltd of $63,520 with disb…
7 Aug 2020

OXYGEN AIR LIMITED v LG ELECTRONICS AUSTRALIA PTY LIMITED (Costs) [2020] NZHC 1863

Citation

[2020] NZHC 1863
Court

High Court

Court awarded LG scale costs allocated as 2B for general interlocutory steps, 2C for extensive discovery (with additional days), trial costs assessed at Category 2 with second counsel; found a 50% uplift under r14.6(3) appropriate for conduct after 1 April 2018 because Oxygen pursued meritless arguments and refused a reasonable settlement; declined full contractual indemnity costs due to lack of detailed evidence and apportionment but applied a 10% contractual uplift; disallowed unsubstantiated disbursements; set interest on the counterclaim at Westpac CLR plus 2% p.a.; released security paid…
25 Feb 2020

HOUGHTON v SAUNDERS [2020] NZHC 265

Citation

[2020] NZHC 265
Court

High Court

The Court awarded wasted costs reflecting that the defendants incurred significant preparatory work that was not entirely wasted but sufficient to justify awards above baseline scale in light of the plaintiff's unpreparedness; quantified awards were $110,000 for all first defendants (to be shared) and $100,000 for the second and third defendants, plaintiff liable for unavoidable disbursements, and JAFL and Mr Gavigan held jointly and severally liable for those amounts; enforcement stayed pending the outcome of the adjourned May 2020 fixture with existing offset against $930,000 preserved.
4 Dec 2019

EASTLIGHT ASSET TRADING NO. 5 LTD v RIBBLE LIMITED (in rec) [2019] NZHC 3172 [4 December 2019]

Citation

[2019] NZHC 3172
Court

High Court

Respondent awarded costs on a 2B basis of $10,927 and recoverable disbursements (including filing fee $160 and reasonable counsel travel costs for two Wellington hearings); no costs order made against the applicant's solicitor because there was no evidence she had actual knowledge the caveat was bad, she had made reasonable enquiries and the exceptional threshold for non-party costs orders was not met, and the solicitor had not been afforded the opportunity to be heard.
9 Nov 2018

CAPITAL PRODUCE LIMITED v BROOKLYN BAR AND BISTRO LIMITED [2018] NZHC 2917

Citation

[2018] NZHC 2917
Court

High Court

The Court awarded costs to Brooklyn Bar and Bistro against Capital Produce because, although Law Debt Collection's conduct raised serious concerns and could have justified a non-party order, such orders are to be used sparingly and there was no basis to conclude Capital Produce could not pay; secondary remedies between Capital Produce and Law Debt Collection were left to the parties to resolve.
29 Jun 2018

COURTENEY v PRATLEY [2018] NZHC 1588

Citation

[2018] NZHC 1588
Court

High Court

The Court held that increased costs at a 50% uplift (1.5 times the 2B scale) were justified because Stuart Courteney acted unreasonably by advancing unsupported defences, failing to attend or fund evidenced defences, misusing his executor powers and concealing overseas assets; as he substantially controlled and sought to benefit from the litigation he was the real party and it was just to order him to pay the increased costs despite his current non-party status.
12 Apr 2018

STEPHEN MARR MANAGEMENT LIMITED v BOUTIQUE HAIR & BEAUTY LIMITED (In Receivership & In Liquidation) [2018] NZHC 660

Citation

[2018] NZHC 660
Court

High Court

The Court held the challenges to the liquidators' appointments were unmeritorious; awarded costs to the successful applicants (Brown and Smart) on a 2B scale with uplifts (25% on the Hansa opposition; 50% on the SMML application) and made an exceptional award of costs personally against Hansa's liquidators (Grant and Khov) because their opposition lacked merit, conferred no practical benefit on Hansa and was not bona fide in being reasonably arguable; cross‑over costs were to be split equally between Grant/Khov and SMML; no second counsel costs awarded.
18 Dec 2017

BLIGH v EARTHQUAKE COMMISSION [2017] NZHC 3179

Citation

[2017] NZHC 3179
Court

High Court

The Court found the defendants' attendances on 28–31 October 2016 were truly wasted; responsibility for the wasted costs was apportioned 40% to Claims Resolution Service Ltd (CRSL), 40% to Grant Shand and 20% to the plaintiff Bligh; CRSL and Grant Shand were not mere passive funders and therefore can be ordered to contribute; IAG was awarded 25% of earlier preparation costs as wasted (by reference to actual reasonable solicitor/client costs) and full recovery for the 28–31 October 2016 wasted attendances; EQC was awarded actual reasonable solicitor/client costs and disbursements for 28–31 Oct…
9 Oct 2015

E-TRANS INTERNATIONAL FINANCE LTD v KIWIBANK LTD [2015] NZHC 2481

Citation

[2015] NZHC 2481
Court

High Court

A non-party who brings an opposed application for access to court documents may be ordered to pay costs; costs should normally follow the event when the non-party's opposed application is determined; on these facts BN Global Trading Ltd's application failed and must pay costs on a 2B basis for one counsel for each successful party plus reasonable disbursements, with no costs allowed for second counsel.