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[2012] NSWSC 1079
Supreme Court of NSW
2012-09-03
Davies J
Original judgment source is linked above.
Judgment 1On 24 July 2012 I gave judgment for the Plaintiff in the sum of $1,373,035 and ordered that the Defendant pay the Plaintiff's costs. 2On 7 April 2011 those acting for Dr Hakim sent a letter to the Plaintiff's solicitors. The letter was marked "Without prejudice except as to costs". The letter simply said: We enclose by way of service, Offer of Compromise dated 7 April. The Notice of Offer of Compromise said this: The Defendant offers to compromise these proceedings on the following terms:
8The answer to this question involves an examination of a number of decisions of the Court of Appeal and a consideration of Garling J's judgment in Rail Corporation NSW v Vero Insurance which examined those decisions of the Court of Appeal. 9The convenient starting point is Old v McInnes. 10The offer made in Old was an offer by the First Defendant to the Plaintiff to compromise the Plaintiff's claim on the following terms:
33If I am wrong in my view of whether the Offer was one that satisfied r 20.26 I should say something briefly about whether the Offer could be regarded as a Calderbank offer. 34The covering letter enclosing the Offer of Compromise said nothing about the Offer being treated as a Calderbank offer of it did not comply with the Rules as amounting to an Offer of Compromise. In such circumstances it cannot be regarded as a Calderbank offer in the alternative. 35In Pritchard Hoeben J said: [40] In Becker the unsuccessful offer of compromise was held to operate as a Calderbank offer. This was because the offer had in terms indicated that as an alternative, the principles in Calderbank v Calderbank (1975) 3 WLR 586 were being relied upon. That was not the case here. The offer was silent as to any alternative basis other than a reliance upon Pt 20 r 26 UCPR. [41] Dean is directly relevant. In that case a document purporting to be an offer of compromise concluded with the words "this offer is made in accordance with Pt 20 r 26 of the Uniform Civil Procedure Rules". It made no reference to any other basis on which the offer was being made. [42] The court held that whether a document operates as a Calderbank offer depends upon the intention of the offeror as revealed by the terms of the offer. It said: [33] ... The offer was explicitly an offer of compromise under R 20.26. Unlike the offer considered in Trustee for the Salvation Army (NSW) Property Trust v Becker (No 2), it was not said that it was intended to operate as a Calderbank offer if it was ineffective under the rules. The statement in the letter that the offer would be relied on in support of an application for indemnity costs did not go beyond affirming that costs would be claimed under the offer of compromise regime in the rules. [34] The intention must be made clear. It would be unfair for a party to be subject to the consequences of a Calderbank offer if it was not made clear that the offer should be treated as such. A party receiving an offer of compromise apparently made under the rules should be entitled to decide whether or not to accept according to the offer of compromise regime in the rules, including deciding whether or not it is an effective offer of compromise. [43] It follows from the reasoning in Dean that if the offer did not comply with Pt 20 r 20.26 UCPR, it could not in the alternative operate as a Calderbank offer. 36The result is the same in the present case.
37By reason of the view I have reached about the Offer of Compromise the issue of the costs of the adjournment does not strictly arise. However, in deference to the submissions made I will state my views about this matter against the chance that I am in error regarding the Offer of Compromise. 38When the Plaintiff gave evidence she indicated that she intended to divorce Tony and move away from his house where she had been living. The architects the occupational therapists and rehabilitation experts had addressed the matter on the assumption that the Plaintiff would remain living with Tony in his house. This necessitated the Plaintiff applying for an adjournment on the third day of the hearing. The basis for it was put by Senior Counsel for the Plaintiff in these terms: It has become evident yesterday that a real drawback for joint experts is if in fact they are considering for the first time in the witness box matters that they hadn't previously addressed in their reports or their joint reports, namely, a revised scenario, that is, about the plaintiff living separately from the house in her own home and not with him. That has ramifications in many ways which covers a number of the heads of claim. It would appear, we will be submitting in due course, I will submit it on instructions as an adjournment application or as part of our duty to report to the court about concerns we have in assisting the court with proper case management or reporting it anyway, regardless of the instructions from the client, that the joint experts who are rehabilitation physicians do not appear to really have addressed sufficiently, in fact at all, the scenario of the plaintiff not being at home in her usual home with Tony but instead being divorced and living in separate accommodation where she doesn't have Tony's assistance. ... On instructions and raising the issue and what we would be looking for, can I say there ought be an adjournment to enable joint assessment, that is meeting the plaintiff, to be conducted by both pairs of experts, that is rehabilitationists and the OTs, and they can then prepare in effect their joint reports, including setting out their reasoning, but where they are specifically directed to deal with the consequences of the plaintiff living alone. 39There was then this exchange: HIS HONOUR: What I think you are saying is you need an adjournment to get a new joint report from the rehabilitation specialists. GROSS: Yes. HIS HONOUR: But what I'm wondering, in the light of other things you have said, is whether the reports even from the OTs, the joint reports adequately deal with the position as now seems likely. GROSS: We would submit they don't. First of all can I say ordinarily occupational therapists should be taking into mind when they are assessing matters what rehabilitation physicians have to say. Their numbers don't have to be the same, I can accept that, but nevertheless the diagnosis of the medical needs of the plaintiff by rehabilitation physicians from both sides is important. 40The hearing of the matter then resumed on 7 December 2012 with a further joint report from the rehabilitation experts of 2 September 2011, a further report from the architects of 23 November 2011 and a further report from the occupational therapists of 19 September 2011. These joint reports addressed the further information that had come to hand as a result of the Plaintiff's evidence given during the first two days of the hearing. 41The Defendant sought an order that the Plaintiff pay the costs thrown away by reason of the adjournment. Before an order was made the Plaintiff agreed to pay the Defendant's costs thrown away by reason of the adjournment. However, the parties were unable to agree as a matter of principle on what those costs should be. 42The Defendant says that the following costs as a matter of principle should be included in the order for costs thrown away:
52Accordingly, I vary the costs order made on 24 July 2012 and order as follows: The Defendant is to pay the Plaintiff's costs on an ordinary basis up to and including 7 April 2011 and thereafter the Plaintiff is to pay the Defendant's costs on an indemnity basis.
DISCLAIMER - Every effort has been made to comply with suppression orders or statutory provisions prohibiting publication that may apply to this judgment or decision. The onus remains on any person using material in the judgment or decision to ensure that the intended use of that material does not breach any such order or provision. Further enquiries may be directed to the Registry of the Court or Tribunal in which it was generated. Decision last updated: 20 September 2012
Ziliotto
Dr Hakim
[2010] VSC 427
(1991) 25 NSWLR 349
(1980) 28 SASR 385
(2011) 58 MVR 362