13 Dec 2021
Applied High Court Rules r15.23 presumption on discontinuance; exercised discretion to award judgment debtor costs on a 2B basis of $3,541.00 and allowable disbursements of $6,231.52, after deducting a $1,000 prior award and disallowing an urgent courier fee.
21 Mar 2018
Although the interlocutory applications were effectively 'determined' by withdrawal/consent, the court will not fix and order interlocutory costs where the merits were not fully heard and the parties reached resolution with material (the probate inventory) that materially assisted that resolution; accordingly the defendant's application for immediate costs is refused and costs are to be assessed at the conclusion of the proceedings.
20 Apr 2016
Because the plaintiff withdrew its urgent injunction application and discontinued the proceedings the defendants were entitled to costs; the work required did not justify a 2C award but did justify a modest uplift for urgency and disruption, resulting in 2B per defendant with a 25% uplift; separate awards were appropriate for each defendant.
19 May 2015
The withdrawing party failed to discharge the onus to displace the presumption that costs follow the event; having satisfied the debt and withdrawn the application he abandoned merits challenges, so costs were awarded to the judgment creditor on a 2B basis and to be fixed by the Registrar.
27 Feb 2015
Costs for the withdrawn interim injunction are fixed on a 2B basis with reasonable disbursements but the incidence of those costs is reserved until the substantive proceeding is determined because the court should not conduct a detailed merits or conduct inquiry on sparse material and unresolved factual disputes constitute special reasons to defer the determination of who should ultimately bear the costs.
20 Nov 2013
Indemnity costs denied because respondent's conduct was not sufficiently flagrant; increased costs of 50% awarded (under r 14.6(3)(b)(ii)) on a category 2A base because there was a reasonable argument against the debt and the statutory demand was used, at least in part, as a debt collection tactic; award includes costs for costs memorandum and sealing order.
28 Aug 2013
The liquidators were the successful party because the receivers provided the material sought and the withdrawal followed that provision; respondents (former receivers) ordered to pay applicants' costs on a scale 2B basis as an interlocutory application; uplift and indemnity costs refused and recovery for in-house counsel allowed on the basis of equivalent external cost replacement.
8 May 2013
BNZ was granted leave to withdraw the adjudication application and, applying the ordinary rule on discontinuance, the Court ordered BNZ to pay costs to Mr Crisford on a scale 2B basis with disbursements fixed by the Registrar because there was no reason to depart from the usual approach.
19 Oct 2007
Although respondent prima facie entitled to full costs on discontinuance under r476C, the respondent's solicitors' undertaking reasonably induced the applicants to withdraw and thus the court exercised its discretion to reduce the respondent's costs by 50%.
5 Apr 2007
Indemnity costs were not justified because the defendant's conduct, while discourteous and potentially strategically timed, did not reach the exceptional threshold in r48C(4); two distinct originating applications attract separate Band B allowances under the Third Schedule; applying the prescribed items the appropriate costs award is party-and-party $6,560 ($3,280 per application) plus disbursements to be fixed by the Registrar.