Coshott v Parker (No 4) [2015] NSWSC 1525

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Coshott v Parker (No 4) [2015] NSWSC 1525 Hearing dates: On the papers Decision date: 16 October 2015 Jurisdiction: Common Law Before: Hall J Decision: Plaintiff ordered to pay the defendant pre-judgment interest in the sum of $858.31 Catchwords: Costs – interest – pre-judgment interest – defendant provided schedule with calculations as to interest payable on judgment sum in respect of paid professional costs and disbursements including on costs paid for the costs assessment process under the Legal Profession Act 2004 – no objection by plaintiff – order made for interest to be paid by the plaintiff in accordance with the defendant's calculations. Legislation Cited: Legal Profession Act 2004 Cases Cited: Coshott v Parker [2015] NSWSC 197 Category: Costs Parties: Ljiljana Coshott (Plaintiff) Michelle Lena Parker (First Defendant) Christina Marie Collins (Second Defendant) Representation: Counsel: O Jones (Plaintiff) M Castle; AD Bailey (Defendants)

Solicitors: B Hocking (Plaintiff) Hicksons (Defendants) File Number(s): 2012/388476

Judgment 1. On 12 March 2015 I made orders dismissing an Amended Notice of motion filed by the plaintiff in these proceedings (Coshott v Parker [2015] NSWSC 197). On 25 August 2015 I made the following orders as to costs: 1. The plaintiff is to pay the defendants the sum of $3264.65. 2. The plaintiff is to pay the defendants $34 335.30 as a gross sum costs order under s 98(4) Civil Procedure Act in relation the proceedings specified in orders 3-4 of the defendants' Amended Notice of Motion filed 27 March 2015. 3. The plaintiff is to pay interest on the sums awarded in orders (1) and (2) above. The defendants are to provide to my Associate calculations as to the amount of interest payable in relation to each sum by 4pm Wednesday 2 September 2015. I grant leave to the plaintiff to reply to the calculations if necessary by 4pm Tuesday 8 September 2015. As noted above, orders as to interest are to be made in chambers following receipt of final calculations as to interest made by the parties, or as may be agreed by them. 1. A document entitled Calculation of Pre-Judgment Interest prepared for the defendant was subsequently received by my Associate. The calculations were based on Practice Note SC Gen 16, being 4% above the cash rate published by the Reserve Bank of Australia. 2. The defendants identified the invoices and payments made in relation to which pre-judgment interest was sought. The defendants claimed pre-judgment interest in the amount of $372.34 in relation to amounts paid by them on professional costs and disbursements (Items 1, 2 and 3 of Schedule "A"), and $485.97 in relation to the costs of the costs assessment process under the Legal Profession Act 2004 which was the focus of the principal proceedings (Items 1, 2 and 3 of Schedule "B"). The total amount of pre-judgment interest claimed by the defendants is $858.31. A copy of Schedules "A" and "B" are attached to this judgment. 3. The plaintiff has not filed submissions disputing the calculations made on behalf of the defendants. 4. I am satisfied that the defendants are entitled to interest on the amounts awarded to the defendants on 25 August 2015 in accordance with the defendants' calculations.