Angel v Hawkesbury City Council (No 2)

The dispute in *Angel v Hawkesbury City Council (No 2)* concerned an application for indemnity costs following a previous judgment of the Court of Appeal of New South Wales. The applicant, Angel, sought to have the costs awarded to Hawkesbury City Council paid on an indemnity basis from a specific date.

The central legal issue before the Court of Appeal was whether the circumstances warranted the award of indemnity costs, specifically in relation to a *Calderbank* offer made by the Council. The Court had to consider the nature of the offer and whether it met the threshold for departing from the usual order for costs to be assessed on a party-party basis.

The Court of Appeal, in its principal judgment, had ordered that the Council recover its costs of the appeal. However, the present application sought to vary that order to include an award of indemnity costs from 6 July 2006. The Court reasoned that the Council's *Calderbank* offer, made on 6 July 2006, was a significant factor. This offer was considered to be more favourable than the ultimate outcome of the appeal for the Council. The Court applied the principle that where a party makes a reasonable offer of settlement that is not accepted, and the other party subsequently obtains a less favourable result, an award of indemnity costs may be appropriate to reflect the unreasonableness of rejecting the offer.

Consequently, the Court of Appeal varied its previous order, directing that the costs awarded to Hawkesbury City Council be paid on an indemnity basis as from 6 July 2006.