Casey v Pel-Air Aviation Pty Ltd; Helm v Pel-Air Aviation Pty Ltd (No 3) [2015] NSWSC 857

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Casey v Pel-Air Aviation Pty Ltd; Helm v Pel-Air Aviation Pty Ltd (No 3) [2015] NSWSC 857 Hearing dates: On the papers Date of orders: 01 July 2015 Decision date: 01 July 2015 Jurisdiction: Common Law Before: Schmidt J Decision: 1. Pel-Air to pay Dr Helm's costs: (a) assessed on the ordinary basis up to and including 30 January 2015. (b) assessed on an indemnity basis thereafter. 2. Dr Helm has leave to proceed to have his costs assessed forthwith, if not agreed. 3. Enforcement of the costs order is otherwise stayed pending determination of Pel-Air's appeal, conditional upon Pel-Air paying to Dr Helm's solicitor 70% of the costs agreed or assessed, within 21 days of final assessment or agreement. Catchwords: PROCEDURE – costs – departing from the general rule – order for costs on indemnity basis – offers of compromise – whether offer was invalid – whether offer was to operate as Calderbank offer – rejection of offer was unreasonable – orders sought made Legislation Cited: Evidence Act 1995 (NSW) Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 (NSW) Cases Cited: Calderbank v Calderbank [1975] 3 WLR 586 Casey v Pel-Air Aviation Pty Ltd; Helm v Pel-Air Aviation Pty Ltd [2015] NSWSC 566 Casey v Pel-Air Aviation Pty Ltd; Helm v Pel-Air Aviation Pty Ltd (No 2) [2015] NSWSC 734 Leichhardt Municipal Council v Green [2004] NSWCA 341 Old v McInnes and Hodgkinson [2011] NSWCA 410 Category: Costs Parties: Karen Casey David Helm Pel-Air Aviation Pty Ltd Representation: Counsel: Mr RS McIlwaine SC with Mr G Graham (Plaintiffs) Mr D Lloyd (Defendant)