Mills v Dalzell

The case of Mills v Dalzell, CA186/2024 and CA318/2024, involved multiple applicants seeking to appeal decisions made by the Court of Appeal of New Zealand. The applicants in CA186/2024 were Lynette Joy Mills, Carl James Peterson, and the Peterson/Mills Partnership, while the applicant in CA318/2024 was Lynette Joy Mills alone. The respondents included Kelly Dalzell, Tracy Howard LeVenbach (deceased), ASB Bank Limited, and several other individuals and entities. The primary dispute centered around the applicants' attempts to relitigate issues that had already been conclusively decided, leading to the Court awarding indemnity costs against them.

The court was required to determine the appropriate quantum of indemnity costs that should be awarded to the respondents. Indemnity costs are awarded in exceptional cases where there is flagrant misconduct, and the court had already determined that the applicants' actions met this threshold. The specific legal issues included the reasonableness of the time spent on the litigation, the hourly rates charged, and the overall reasonableness of the fees claimed. The court also had to consider whether the applicants' liability for costs in CA186/2024 was joint and several.

The court reviewed the memoranda filed by the respondents detailing the steps taken in the litigation, the amount of time spent, and the hourly rates used. It found that the time spent and the hourly rates were reasonable, as was the total amount claimed. The court accepted the apportionment of costs across the various proceedings and concluded that the overall costs were reasonable. However, it deducted $550 from the claim for the cost of the indemnity costs memorandum, as it did not consider this amount within the current award for indemnity costs. The applicants' liability for costs in CA186/2024 was joint and several.

The court ordered that the applicants in CA186/2024 must pay costs to the first, third, eighth, thirteenth and fourteenth respondents in the sum of $3,992.80, and to the fifth, sixth, ninth, fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth respondents in the sum of $2,361.60. Additionally, the applicants in CA186/2024, and the applicant in CA318/2024, must pay costs to Graham Howard-Mills in the sum of $2,189 in respect of CA186/2024, and the sum of $3,729 in respect of CA318/2024. This decision underscores the court's authority to award indemnity costs in cases of vexatious and frivolous litigation.