Insurance Australia Ltd t/a NRMA Insurance v Milton (No 2)

Insurance Australia Ltd t/a NRMA Insurance (the appellant) appealed a decision concerning the preparation of appeal books. The dispute centred on the inclusion of unnecessary and irrelevant material within these books, which contravened the Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 (NSW), specifically rule 51.29. The appeal was heard by Basten, Leeming, and Simpson JJA of the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of New South Wales.

The primary legal issue before the Court was whether a sanction should be imposed on the appellant's solicitor for failing to comply with rule 51.29, which mandates that appeal books contain only material that is relevant and necessary for the conduct of the appeal. This issue was framed as a question of whether the solicitor should be denied the right to recover the costs and disbursements associated with the preparation of the appeal books from their client.

The Court reasoned that the solicitor had breached rule 51.29 by including a significant amount of material that was not relevant or necessary for the appeal. Applying the principles of professional responsibility and the rules of court governing the preparation of appeal documents, the Court determined that a sanction was warranted. The Court noted that the solicitor had failed to exercise due diligence in curating the contents of the appeal books, leading to an unnecessary burden on both the court and the client.

Consequently, the Court made an order that the appellant's solicitor was not to charge their client with more than 50% of the costs and disbursements associated with preparing the appeal books. Furthermore, the solicitor was ordered to reimburse the client for any such costs or disbursements already paid or to be paid in the future, and to provide written notification of this order to the client.