New Zealand Case Law: Decisions & Judgments | LexChat

Topic

Lay litigant costs recovery

Legal area

Court

18 May 2020

SHANNON v LOWY [as to costs on interlocutory application] [2020] NZHC 1026

Citation

[2020] NZHC 1026
Court

High Court

Plaintiffs were not sufficiently successful on the on‑notice application to justify an award of costs; two substantive orders were declined by Palmer J and the third was procedural and unopposed in substance; resolution of website issues did not clearly result from the application. Defendants' claim for costs was misconceived because much legal work pre‑dated the on‑notice application, costs were unscaled and not assessed in accordance with r14.2 and r14.5, lay time is not recoverable absent exceptional justification, and the defendants were not clearly the successful party. Consequently, cos…
26 Jun 2017

GODFREY v BORLEY [2017] NZHC 1380

Citation

[2017] NZHC 1380
Court

High Court

Given precedent permitting a contribution to legal costs for lay litigants, the court awarded a partial but substantial contribution to the applicant's solicitor fees ($720) plus disbursements ($200) because the solicitors charged less than the scale 2B entitlement, there was uncertainty whether the applicant prepared drafts himself, and a reduced award achieves the partial indemnity function of costs.