LAND AND ENVIRONMENT COURT RULES 2007 - REG 3.7 Costs in certain proceedings

LAND AND ENVIRONMENT COURT RULES 2007 - REG 3.7

3.7 Costs in certain proceedings

(cf Land and Environment Court Rules 1996 , Part 16, rule 4)

(1) This rule applies to the following proceedings (except for appeals under section 56A of the Act)--

(a) all proceedings in Class 1 of the Court's jurisdiction,

(b) all proceedings in Class 2 of the Court's jurisdiction,

(c) the following proceedings in Class 3 of the Court's jurisdiction--

(i) appeals, references or other matters that may be heard and disposed of by the Court under the Crown Lands Act 1989 or Western Lands Act 1901 , as referred to in section 19 (a) of the Land and Environment Court Act 1979 ,

(ii) appeals under section 37 (1) of the Valuation of Land Act 1916 ,

(iii) appeals under section 8E of the Rookwood Necropolis Act 1901 or clause 56 (2) of Schedule 8 to the Crown Lands Act 1989 ,

(iv) appeals and applications under section 526 (including section 526 as applied by section 531) or 574 of the Local Government Act 1993 ,

(v) appeals under section 202 of the Fisheries Management Act 1994 ,

(vi) appeals under section 174, and references under section 175, of the Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1983 ,

(vii) any other appeals, references or other matters referred to in section 19 (h) of the Land and Environment Court Act 1979 .

(2) The Court is not to make an order for the payment of costs unless the Court considers that the making of an order as to the whole or any part of the costs is fair and reasonable in the circumstances.

(3) Circumstances in which the Court might consider the making of a costs order to be fair and reasonable include (without limitation) the following--

(a) that the proceedings involve, as a central issue, a question of law, a question of fact or a question of mixed fact and law, and the determination of such question--

(i) in one way was, or was potentially, determinative of the proceedings, and

(ii) was preliminary to, or otherwise has not involved, an evaluation of the merits of any application the subject of the proceedings,

(b) that a party has failed to provide, or has unreasonably delayed in providing, information or documents--

(i) that are required by law to be provided in relation to any application the subject of the proceedings, or

(ii) that are necessary to enable a consent authority to gain a proper understanding of, and give proper consideration to, the application,

(c) that a party has acted unreasonably in circumstances leading up to the commencement of the proceedings,

(d) that a party has acted unreasonably in the conduct of the proceedings,

(e) that a party has commenced or defended the proceedings for an improper purpose,

(f) that a party has commenced or continued a claim in the proceedings, or maintained a defence to the proceedings, where--

(i) the claim or defence (as appropriate) did not have reasonable prospects of success, or

(ii) to commence or continue the claim, or to maintain the defence, was otherwise unreasonable.