Homeowners with an earthquake damaged house had to pay wasted costs for two cancelled court events because their expert’s report was late: Alexander v Southern Response Earthquake Services Ltd [2020] NZHC 1660 [10 July 2020].
The court can order a party to pay costs ‘wasted’ where the party causes a court event not to occur.
The court scheduled four settlement conferences ahead of which the parties’ experts were to agree a joint report. The court held that the plaintiff or its advisers caused two of the conferences to be cancelled and rescheduled due to their expert’s delay in providing the report.
The court said a cause was the failure to properly instruct the expert or his failure to undertake an adequate inspection.
While the costs were not substantial the case does provide a reminder to lawyers and experts: commit to attainable time frames lest any failure to attain these results in their clients bearing the cost consequences.