The Court held that a costs assessment review panel under s 85 of the Application Act is not required to find demonstrable error in the costs assessor's determination before it can make a different decision, but equally is not required to conduct a de novo assessment — its function is to 'review' the determination, with the starting point being the original determination, consistently with Wende v Horwath. The Court further held that ss 34, 35 and 173 of the Legal Profession Uniform Law are not applicable to the assessment of ordered costs, as s 76(2) of the Application Act creates a negative implication limiting the relevant provisions to s 172(1) and (2). The proposition that a costs applicant must articulate reasons every time work involves more than one solicitor, or that duplication of work by equally competent solicitors is presumptively unreasonable, was rejected as an impermissible attempt to elevate evaluative matters to the level of legal principle.
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