Tipto Pty Ltd v Yuen (No 2) [2016] NSWSC 611

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Tipto Pty Ltd v Yuen (No 2) [2016] NSWSC 611 Hearing dates: On the papers Date of orders: 12 May 2016 Decision date: 12 May 2016 Jurisdiction: Equity Before: Robb J Decision: See par 60 Catchwords: COST ORDERS – court considered the manner in which proceedings were conducted – whether defendants were entitled to indemnity costs sought – plaintiffs initially made baseless demands and threats against the defendants in which they ultimately sought no such relief – HELD plaintiffs' conduct was unreasonable but it was not sufficiently connected with the litigation itself to justify indemnity costs – whether plaintiffs' rejection of various attempts to settle the matter was unreasonable – in particular, court considered the Calderbank offer by the defendants – court found that the offer did not relate closely enough to the relief sought by the plaintiffs – HELD it was not unreasonable for the plaintiffs to reject the offer as it did not deal with the principal relief sought by the plaintiffs – whether there was misconduct involved on the part of the plaintiffs that justify a more onerous costs orders against them – court considered that plaintiffs' misconduct in pressing baseless claims unnecessarily prolonged the hearing and increased costs – HELD plaintiffs to pay 85% of the defendants' reasonable solicitor/client costs Legislation Cited: Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 (NSW) Cases Cited: Mead v Watson [2005] NSWCA 133; 23 ACLC 718 Nu Line Construction Group Pty Ltd v Fowler (aka Grippaudo) [2012] NSWSC 816 Nu Line Construction Group Pty Ltd v Fowler (No 2) [2014] NSWCA 188 Tipto Pty Ltd v Yuen [2015] NSWSC 1086 Category: Costs Parties: Tipto Pty Ltd (first plaintiff) SWU Financial Planning Pty Ltd (second plaintiff) Premium China Funds Management Pty Ltd (third plaintiff) Kam Cheun Yuen (first defendant) CoWealth Partners Pty Ltd (second defendant) Representation: Counsel: R Gration (plaintiffs) J Fernon SC/D Scully (defendants