5 Nov 2019
The plaintiff discontinued a weak claim and, despite impecuniosity, should pay meaningful costs. Applying 2B scale costs with a 25% reduction for impecuniosity, and disallowing limited challenged items, the defendant is entitled to costs and disbursements of $22,405.42; $10,000 security held in Court is to be released to the defendant and the plaintiff must pay the balance of $12,405.42.
21 Dec 2016
The court declined to order costs against the legally aided applicant because the 'exceptional circumstances' threshold in s 45(2) Legal Services Act 2011 was not met, and declined to order costs against counsel personally because the conduct, while blameworthy, did not causally justify a solicitors' wasted costs order; the court declared that but for the applicant's legal aid status it would have ordered costs of NZD 1,448 in favour of the respondent.
15 May 2015
Because the plaintiff repeatedly breached timetabling directions and filed late evidence that effectively doubled the claim immediately before trial, causing prejudice and necessitating adjournment, the court exercised its jurisdiction to award wasted costs to the second defendant; having considered relevance of prior preparation and appropriate discounting, the court fixed wasted costs at NZD 15,000.