New Zealand Case Law: Decisions & Judgments | LexChat

New Zealand Case Law

Pre-commencement costs recoverability
  • 19 Mar 2020

    ARRIESGADO v GALLAGHER FAMILY INVESTMENTS LTD [2020] NZHC 567

    Citation
    [2020] NZHC 567
    Court
    High Court

    Pre-commencement legal work is not recoverable as costs incidental to a proceeding unless it consists of the immediate steps of forming an intention to commence and drafting/approving the statement of claim immediately prior to filing; the court allowed 10.9 hours for those preparatory steps and disallowed the bulk of pre-commencement, third‑defendant, unbilled and certain post‑commencement items as not reasonably incurred or not incurred by the plaintiffs; disbursements relating to the proceedings were allowed; GST was excluded from the indemnity award on the assumption the plaintiffs are GS…