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Ibbotson v ICL Ltd [2018] NZDC 22479

Published 17 May 2019

Costs — indemnity costs — District Court Rules 2014, rr 14.2, 14.3, 14.4, 14.5, 14.6 — Holdfast NZ Ltd v Selleys Pty Ltd (2005) 17 PRNZ 897 — Ben Nevis Forestry Ventures Ltd v Commissioner of Inland Revenue [2014] NZCA 348 — Bradbury v Westpac Banking Corporation [2009] NZCA 234. The plaintiff's claims for $47,000 against the defendants were unsuccessful. The claims were statute-barred and consequently amounted to an abuse of the process of the Court. The defendants sought indemnity costs and increased costs of 100 per cent, given the time involved in the litigation, the inadequacy of the Court pleadings and the fact the proceedings should not have been issued in the first place. The Judge turned to the District Court Rules that pertain to cost awards and held that the high threshold for awarding indemnity costs was not met, but increased costs of 65 percent were appropriate given the plaintiff's case was "hopeless". The defendants were awarded costs in the sum of $32,894.40, being costs on a 2B basis ($19,936) with an uplift of 65 percent, together with disbursements of $1381.68. Judgment Date: 31 October 2018.

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