Valuer-General of New South Wales v Pyntoe Pty Ltd

[2013] NSWCA 346

NSW Court of Appeal

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Interrogate

Catchwords

1. Practice and Procedure
2. › Costs
3. › Land and Environment Court
4. › Discretion to award costs
5. › Rule precluding costs unless 'fair and reasonable in the circumstances'
6. › Whether prior valuation appeals concerning same land relevant to costs discretion
7. › Whether cumulative factors justify departure from presumptive no-costs rule
8. › Land and Environment Court Rules 2007 (NSW), r 3.7(2)
1. Practice and Procedure
2. › Costs
3. › Calderbank offers
4. › Whether Valuer-General in different position to other litigants regarding Calderbank offer
5. › Whether public officials with no personal financial interest treated differently
6. › Relevance of subjective nature of valuation to settlement expectations
1. Practice and Procedure
2. › Costs
3. › Scope of costs order
4. › Whether costs should run from date of Calderbank offer or for whole proceedings
5. › Cumulative factors justifying costs for entire proceedings
1. Environment and Planning
2. › Land valuation
3. › Valuation appeals
4. › Costs of valuation appeals in Land and Environment Court
5. › Valuation of Land Act 1916 (NSW), s 37
6. › Land and Environment Court Act 1979 (NSW), s 57

Quick Take

Prior valuation appeals concerning the same land are relevant circumstances that may be taken into account when exercising the costs discretion under r 3.7(2) of the Land and Environment Court Rules 2007. The Valuer-General is not in a fundamentally different position from other litigants regarding Calderbank offers merely because the Valuer-General has no personal financial interest in the outcome. The cumulative effect of prior successful appeals, success in the present appeal, and rejection of a reasonable Calderbank offer may constitute 'something out of the ordinary' justifying a costs order for the whole proceedings.