NETIS & KIPLING

[2020] FCCA 2852

FEDERAL CIRCUIT COURT OF AUSTRALIA

NETIS & KIPLING [2020] FCCA 2852

Catchwords:
FAMILY LAW – Costs – indemnity costs.

Legislation:

Family Law Act 1975, s.117

Cases cited:

Ebner & Pappas and Anor [2015] FamCAFC 39

Colgate-Palmolive Co v Cussons Pty Ltd (1993) 118 ALR 248
D & D (Costs) (No. 2) (2010) FLC 93-435

Applicant: MS NETIS

Respondent: MR KIPLING

File Number: TVC 809 of 2015

Judgment of: Judge Andrew

Hearing date: 20 July 2020

Date of Last Submission: 20 July 2020

Delivered at: Townsville

Delivered on: 20 July 2020

REPRESENTATION

Solicitors for the Applicant: Roberts Nehmer McKee

The Respondent: Self-represented

ORDERS

1. That the Applicant Husband pay the Respondent Wife’s costs of and incidental to the Contravention Application filed 16 August 2019 on an indemnity basis in the sum of Ten Thousand, Six Hundred and Eighty Six Dollars and Twenty Four Cents ($10,686.24), with payment of same to be made within two (2) months of the date of these Orders.

IT IS NOTED that publication of this judgment under the pseudonym Netis & Kipling is approved pursuant to s.121(9)(g) of the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth).

FEDERAL CIRCUIT COURT
OF AUSTRALIA
AT TOWNSVILLE

TVC 809 of 2015

MS NETIS

Applicant

And

MR KIPLING

Respondent

REASONS FOR JUDGMENT

1. These reasons for judgment were delivered orally. They have been corrected from the transcript. Grammatical errors have been corrected and an attempt has been made to render the orally delivered reasons amenable to being read.

2. This is a matter as between Mr Kipling and Ms Netis . They are the husband and wife in this matter, respectively. The wife makes application for the husband to pay her costs of a Contravention application that was filed on 16 August 2019, on an indemnity basis in the amount of $10,686.84, with payment to be made within 14 days, or alternatively that the husband pay the wife’s costs of the Contravention application filed 16 August 2019 on a party/party basis in the amount of $3,543 with such payment to be made within 14 days.

3. There is a chronology that I will set out shortly and it is helpfully found in Mr FF’s costs submission document that was filed on 20 July 2020. The relevant events are these:

   a)23 September 2015 there were interim property orders made by Judge Coker;

   b)On 5 July 2019 there was a final property order made by Tree J, following an eight-day final hearing that is said to be over the course of 2018 and 2019;

   c)On 16 August 2019, the husband filed a Contravention application in relation to an alleged breach of the 23 September 2015 orders;

   d)On 14 October 2019 a Contravention application was set down for 10 March 2020;

   e)On 2 March 2020, a letter was written by the wife’s solicitors to the husband’s then-solicitor, what was said to be confirming the wife’s position that the husband was estopped from making the Contravention application and informing or warning that an application for indemnity costs would be sought;

   f)On…