Court orders NCDC to pay K65,000 as costs to company

By ZEDAIAH KANAU
THE National Capital District Commission (NCDC) has been ordered to pay K65,850 as costs to a firm after it made an application in the Waigani National Court to review a previous sum certified on March 16 last year, by the firm.
Justice Royale Thompson after reviewing a certification of taxation by the firm Yambaran Pausa Saka Ben Limited (plaintiff), which stood in excess of K200,000 issued last March 16, ordered that NCDC only pay costs the sum of K65,850 as per the order of Feb 11, 2019 (order to pay costs).
Justice Thompson said that the firm “seems to have proceeded on the basis that it did not have any record of work done or disbursements incurred, and so could just claim a lump sum”.
“The failure of the plaintiff’s lawyers to keep records of work done, time spent and disbursements incurred, means that there is no evidence to support their claim, and it must be dismissed,” she said.
NCDC filed the application to review the firm’s costs which had been taxed and certified to the sum of K234,284.50 on March 16, 2020.
The costs had been taxed by the taxing officer pursuant to the court order of Feb 11, 2019, where NCDC was ordered to pay the firm’s costs of a proceeding.
A preliminary objection by NCDC, was to the hourly rate which had been allowed at K700.
NCDC objected that this was an excessively high rate and the firm responded by submitting that the hourly rate had been agreed at the taxation.
“The important matter for lawyers seeking to recover costs, is the keeping of records of the work done, including the time spent,” she said.
“The failure of a lawyer to keep such records, means there is no evidence to support his later claim for costs. It is the job of the taxing officer to be satisfied that the evidence supports the amounts claimed in the bill. A taxing officer who allowed amounts when there was no supporting material.”