Lin and Wa and Anor (No.2)

FEDERAL CIRCUIT COURT OF AUSTRALIA

LIN & WA & ANOR (No.2) [2018] FCCA 223

Catchwords:
FAMILY LAW – Costs – first respondent seeks costs after five day parenting and property case – second respondent seeks indemnity costs – no basis for indemnity costs – each party should pay their own costs.

Legislation:

Family Law Act 1975, ss.117(1), 117(2A)
Federal Circuit Court Rules 2001, rr.21.02(2)(c), 21.11(2)(a)

Cases cited:

In theMarriage of Munday and Bowman 22 Fam LR 321

In the Marriage of Kohan and Kohan (1993) FLC 105
Prantage v Prantage [2013] FamCAFC 105
Ackerman and Eastwood [2013] FCCA 1055

Other:
Best Practice Guidelines for Lawyers Doing Family Law Work (second edition) prepared by the Family Law Council and Family Law Section of the Family Law Council of Australia published October 2010

Applicant: MS LIN

First Respondent: MR WA

Second Respondent: MS WA

File Number: MLC 6923 of 2014

Judgment of: Judge Harland

Hearing date: 13 November 2017

Date of Last Submission: 18 December 2017

Delivered at: Melbourne

Delivered on: 2 February 2018

REPRESENTATION

Counsel for the Applicant: Mr Fuller

Solicitors for the Applicant: Jasper Lawyers

The First Respondent: Self represented

Solicitors for the Second Respondent: Prudentia Legal Pty Ltd

ORDERS

1. The Application in a case filed 1 September 2017 is dismissed.

2. The Response to the Application in a case filed 15 September 2017 is dismissed.

IT IS NOTED that publication of this judgment under the pseudonym Lin & Wa & Anor (No.2) is approved pursuant to s.121(9)(g) of the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth).

FEDERAL CIRCUIT COURT
OF AUSTRALIA
AT MELBOURNE

MLC 6923 of 2014

MS LIN

Applicant

And

MR WA

First Respondent

MS WA

Second Respondent

REASONS FOR JUDGMENT

1. The husband and the paternal grandmother in this matter are both seeking costs against the wife.

2. In family law matters the usual rule is that each party shall be responsible for his or her own costs[1].

   [1] See: s.117(1) of the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth)

3. This matter came before me on 1-5 May 2017 with competing parenting and property applications between the husband, the wife, and the paternal grandmother. The parties filed written submissions with the last submission filed on 19 June 2017. Judgment was handed down on 4 August 2017.

4. The husband filed his application for costs against the wife on 1 September 2017 and the paternal grandmother filed a response also seeking costs against the wife on 15 September 2017.

5. The husband’s application came before me in a Duty List on 13 November 2017 where parties agreed to a timeline for filing written submissions.

6. The husband seeks costs as follows:

   a)Costs in accordance with the Federal Circuit Court Rules 2001 scale fixed in the sum of $63,934.84 (including all costs from the commencement of proceedings 7 August 2014); or

   b)Costs in accordance with the Federal Circuit Court Rules 2001 scale fixed in the sum of $23,084.63 (including all costs incurred from the date of the first settlement offer 22 June 2015); or

   c)In the…