Hutchins Pastoral Co Pty Ltd v The Minister administering the Water Management Act 2000 (No. 2) [2014] NSWSC 117

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Hutchins Pastoral Co Pty Ltd v The Minister administering the Water Management Act 2000 (No. 2) [2014] NSWSC 117 Hearing dates: 19 February 2014 Decision date: 25 February 2014 Jurisdiction: Common Law Before: Slattery J Decision: Order the plaintiffs to pay the defendants' costs of these proceedings on the ordinary basis. Catchwords: COSTS - general rule that costs follow the event - whether uncertainty from the making of the legislative scheme in question in the proceedings may be misconduct relating to the litigation or the circumstances leading up to the litigation sufficient to deprive the successful defendants of their costs - whether defendants' Defence lacked sufficient completeness to deprive the defendants the benefit of an award of costs. Legislation Cited: Water Act 1912 (NSW) Water Management Act 2000 (NSW) Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005, r 42.1 Cases Cited: Donald Campbell & Co Ltd v Pollak [1927] AC 732 Green v Minister for Climate Change, Environment and Water [2008] NSWLEC 48 Green v Minister for Climate Change, Environment and Water (No. 2) [2008] NSWLEC 133 Hutchins Pastoral Co Pty Ltd v The Minister administering the Water Management Act 2000 [2014] NSWSC 46 Oshlack v Richmond River Council (1998) 193 CLR 72 Category: Costs Parties: Plaintiffs: Hutchins Pastoral Co Pty Ltd (First Plaintiff) Danwillach Pty Ltd (Second Plaintiff) Delta Creek Pty Ltd (Third Plaintiff) Defendants: The Minister administering the Water Management Act 2000 (First Defendant) State of New South Wales (Second Defendant) Representation: Plaintffs: M. Zammit Defendant: J. Hutton Plaintiff: Leigh Adams, Leigh Adams Lawyers Defendants: I.V. Knight, Crown Solicitor File Number(s): 2009/298126 Publication restriction: No