In the County Court, certification of costs above scale is often important.  The maximum fee specified in the scale of costs for expenses of an expert witness was about $1,800 at the time relevant to Astbury v Wood [2009] VSCA 126; 23 VR 302.  There, a senior neurosurgeon had given viva voce evidence on behalf [...]

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Section 134AB(29) of the Accident Compensation Act, 1985 means if injured workers win in proceedings under that Act, they get 20% less from the losing party towards the amount they have actually been charged by their lawyers than all other litigants. In Joaquim v FPI Vinyl Compounds Pty Ltd, Supreme Court of Victoria, unreported, 9 [...]

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In Joaquim v FPI Vinyl Compounds Pty Ltd, unreported, Supreme Court of Victoria, 9 July 2010, Costs Judge Wood held that solicitors’ assistance to poor clients in applying for waivers of court fees (filing fees, setting down fees and hearing fees in this case) are not fees which are properly claimed in a party-party bill [...]

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I have been remiss in not bringing to your attention the creation of the Costs Court, which came into operation at the beginning of this year.  It is in fact not really a new Court, in the sense that it is just a revamped division of the Supreme Court.  But the development means that the [...]

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Bray v Dye (No 2) [2010] VSC 152, a decision of Justice Judd, is a salutary reminder of the importance of solicitors getting very clear instructions from anyone on whose behalf they intend to commence or defend legal proceedings, and checking that they have capacity to engage in litigation (i.e. that they are of sound [...]

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In Victoria, you can enforce a judgment for up to 15 years: s. 5(4) Limitation of Actions Act, 1958 (Vic.).  During that time, the judgment debt earns interest at a nice little rate, the penalty interest rate: s. 101 Supreme Court Act, 1986.  As of yesterday, the penalty interest rate is 10.5%, while the cash [...]

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I must say I was brought up believing that there was nothing at all wrong with rushing down to the court’s registry and entering default judgment if an appearance, or defence, was not filed by the due date.  Apart from anything else, you force the other side to set out enough on oath about their [...]

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University of Western Australia v Gray (No 25) [2009] FCA 1227 is a horror story.  Gray won and Justice French ordered the University to pay his costs.  It was a big case.  But the University contended that to the extent that Gray’s lawyers had not placed themselves on the roll of practitioners maintained by the [...]

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Morris v Riverwild Management Pty Ltd [2009] VSC 439 is a decision of Justice Pagone in an unusual dispute.  A developer built some apartments at Falls Creek.  Something obviously went wrong, because he and one of the purchasers of an apartment sued the architect, the builder, the structural engineer and his company, the supervising engineer [...]

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Kelly v Jowett [2009] NSWCA 278 is the latest wasted costs case.  The lawyers against whom the order was made had tendered against them their own intra-office memorandum: ‘Your performance in the conduct of this matter has been pathetic. Your failure, given the recent transfer of these matters, to even have the courtesy to provide [...]

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