New Zealand Case Law: Decisions & Judgments | LexChat

Topic

Reasonableness of solicitor-client costs

Legal area

Court

22 Sept 2021

HG METAL MANUFACTURING LTD v NAVARATNAM [2021] NZHC 2498

Citation

[2021] NZHC 2498
Court

High Court

Clause 6 of the September Guarantee clearly and unambiguously entitled HG Metal to full indemnity (solicitor-client) costs of enforcing the guarantee; the costs incurred in these New Zealand proceedings were reasonably necessary to enforce the arbitral award and therefore recoverable on an indemnity basis; GST inclusion depends on whether HG Metal is GST-registered in New Zealand and must be determined accordingly.
16 May 2017

Patel v Macleod [2017] NZHC 990

Citation

[2017] NZHC 990
Court

High Court

Because the applicants' discontinuance was unilateral and the respondents reasonably preserved their position given the applicants' delayed performance of a conditional settlement, the presumption under r 15.23 applied; clause 6.1 of the lease covers solicitor/client costs incidental to enforcement and therefore entitled respondents to indemnity costs, but the court reduced the claimed amount as not fully objectively reasonable and awarded solicitor/client costs of $9,500 plus disbursements of $757.27 (GST exclusive).