5 Aug 2019
The plaintiff was ordered to pay the defendants' costs and disbursements: expert expenses and time for the three memoranda were recoverable because they were necessary and complied with the court's direction; the court awarded $23,638 in costs and $10,343.43 in disbursements.
12 Jul 2019
Award costs to plaintiffs on a 2B basis (NZD 7,359) plus disbursements (NZD 185) because once the Drybuild Report was considered the defendants should have appreciated their summary judgment application could not succeed; the plaintiffs relied on pleaded allegations about provision of two reports and non‑provision of the Drybuild Report and the issues raised were unsuitable for determination on summary judgment. Second counsel costs were not justified and expert witness expenses are reserved for determination after trial.
20 Dec 2013
The court ruled that the second respondent is entitled to full recovery of the expert witness expenses for Messrs Jamieson ($9,775) and Blackburn ($8,970) because the invoices were reasonable, the experts had a considerable amount of material to consider, and nothing indicated their time calculations or charge-out rates were unreasonable.
14 Dec 2005
Costs were reserved because the parties had incurred substantial expert witness expenses likely to be required at trial and because summary judgment costs are excepted from immediate fixing under Rule 48E(3); therefore a reliable overall assessment of costs can only be made after trial rather than at the interlocutory stage.