› Costs of determination of questions referred by costs assessor
Civil procedure
› Costs
› Costs follow the event – discretion – percentage costs order
Civil procedure
› Costs assessment
› Reference of questions to court – UCPR r 743G
Legal practitioners
› Costs disclosure
› Arithmetical errors in costs agreement – failure of ongoing disclosure as discretionary factor
Quick Take
1The costs of a court determination of questions referred by a costs assessor are within the court's discretion under UCPR r 681. Costs ordinarily follow the event, and a party who actively pressed the issues that led to the referral may be ordered to pay costs even though it did not formally initiate the referral.
2Under UCPR r 687 the court may order a party to pay a specified percentage of costs. On the facts, the successful party's recovery was halved because arithmetical errors in its costs agreement had prompted the argument and a live question remained as to whether it had made full and adequate disclosure of increases in costs.
3On the facts, it was not appropriate to leave the costs of the referral to the costs assessor under UCPR r 732, or to make no order as to costs, despite the argument that the outcome of the assessment should be the relevant event.
