11 October 2023
Attention: Josef Strauss
By email only
: [FYI request #24119 email]
Dear Mr Strauss
Official information request
Our Ref: OIA353/1
1.
I refer to your official information request dated 12 September 2023 for:
… a breakdown of costs awards in cases defended by Crown Law in 2021
and 2022.
- In particular, the number of cases in each period where costs were
awarded in favour of Crown Law; and
- the number of cases in each period where costs were awarded against
Crown Law;
- If possible, the total $ amount of costs for both the above requests;
- If possible, the budget Crown Law has to defend claims in court; and the
budget to pay for costs orders against it.
2.
We wrote to you on 15 September 2023 seeking clarification of your request.
Our letter explained the lack of clarity of your request as follows:
“Your request refers initially to “cases defended by Crown Law“. This could
be interpreted in a broad sense to refer to Crown Law’s usual role of
providing representation in the courts for the government. In these
circumstances, where costs awards are made, they are usually awarded for
or against the relevant ministry of department named as a party to the
claim.
However, your request then narrows to specify information about “cases in
each period where costs were awarded
in favour of Crown Law” and “cases
in each period where costs were awarded
against Crown Law” and the
budget Crown Law has to manage any such costs. This suggests that you are
only seeking numerical and financial information on any costs awarded
against or in favour of Crown Law, in any cases where Crown Law has been
named as a party.”
3.
At the date of sending this letter, we have not received a response from you
regarding our request.
Level 3 Justice
Centre, 19 Aitken Street, Wellington 6011 | PO Box 2858 or DX SP20208, Wellington 6140, New Zealand | +64 4 472 1719 | crownlaw.govt.nz
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2
Our approach
4.
As we have not been able to clarify what information you are requesting, we
have interpreted your request to be about costs awards in any civil proceedings
in which Crown Law is acting.
5.
We have also assumed that your reference to “the years 2021 and 2022” refers
to the calendar years for 2021 and 2022 and not the financial year period, 1 July
to 30 June.
Context
6.
To provide you with context in terms of the information you have requested, we
have set out the following background information.
7.
The Crown Law Office is a governmental department which provides legal advice
and representation services to the government in matters affecting executive
government. Crown Counsel at Crown Law appear in civil proceedings before the
senior courts. Crown Counsel commonly appear on behalf of:
7.1
The Attorney-General or the Solicitor-General where they are named as
parties or engaged with proceedings in their capacity as the senior and
junior Law Officers for the Crown.1
7.2
Governmental agencies where they are named as a respondent party or
engaged with the proceedings as non-parties.
7.3
The Attorney-General where he is named as a respondent on behalf of a
governmental agency (for example the Attorney might be named as the
respondent on behalf of the New Zealand Police).
8.
We also instruct external counsel (commonly Crown Solicitors or independent
barristers) to appear in civil proceedings before the senior courts on behalf of
government agencies.
9.
Crown Law itself is not usually named as a party in proceedings.
10.
We hold trust account information recording the receipt of monies paid to and
by Crown Law. This will not be a complete record of relevant costs received or
paid for civil proceedings in the period you have specified. This may be for
several reasons, including the following:
10.1
Costs may be awarded in favour of our clients but remain unpaid. We do
not keep data in relation to these cases.
10.2
Costs awards may be deferred by agreement or default pending appeal.
We do not keep data in relation to these cases.
10.3
Costs may be received or paid directly by the agency involved. i.e., the
proceedings may have concluded, and Crown Law may not be involved
in the transaction of costs.
10.4
When external counsel is assigned, Crown Law will not commonly be
1
More information about the Law Officers of the Crown can be found at
: Law Officers of the Crown » Crown Law.
7533906_2.DOC
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involved in the management of costs.
11.
Your requests relate to costs “awarded”. Our approach has been to count costs
paid to or received by Crown Law. This is because it is possible that the parties
may have agreed on the costs to be paid without seeking a court award.
Costs awards against or in favour of Crown Law as a named party
12.
In the period between 01 January 2021 and 31 December 2022, we have no
financial record of any costs being awarded in favour of or against Crown Law as
a party named in civil proceedings.
13.
There is no specific budget for costs for such an eventuality however it is likely
that the risk of an adverse costs award would be identified when the legal
proceedings are commenced.
Costs awards against or in favour of the Attorney-General in his Law Officer capacity
14.
The following data relates to costs paid by Crown Law between 1 January 2021
and 31 December 2022, for civil proceedings defended on behalf of the
Attorney-General, in-which costs were awarded against the Attorney-General
acting in his Law Officer capacity. These costs were paid out of an appropriation
for work in relation to the Law Officers and are therefore recorded separately.
Number of cases
Total amount
2
$66,113.86
15.
We do not hold any data in relation to civil proceedings defended on behalf of
the Attorney-General for the relevant period, in-which costs may have been
awarded in favour of the Attorney-General acting in his Law Officer capacity.
16.
We do have a record of “costs received by Crown Law” between 1 January 2021
and 31 December 2022. We do not understand any of the monies received to
relate to civil proceedings defended on behalf of the Attorney-General, in-which
costs were awarded in favour of the Attorney-General acting in his Law Officer
capacity.
17.
To clarify, we have received costs in the relevant period on behalf of the
Attorney-General in civil proceedings concerning the variation of charitable
trusts. Such proceedings are not “defended matters” as we are not a named
party and appear to assist the Court on behalf of the Attorney-General in his role
as the protector of charities. We have not therefore counted the receipt of costs
in those proceedings.
Extension of time required for the balance of the request
18.
The Official Information Act 1982 requires that we advise you of our decision on
your request no later than 20 working days after the day we received your
request. We have been able to answer your request in part.
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19.
Unfortunately, it will not be possible to meet that time limit for the balance of
your request in respect of:
19.1
cases defended by Crown Law on behalf of governmental agencies, in
which costs were awarded in favour of that governmental agency; and
19.2
cases defended by Crown Law on behalf of governmental agencies, in
which costs were awarded against that governmental agency.
20.
These are the categories of cases described in paragraphs 7.2 and 7.3 above.
21.
We need therefore to notify you of an extension of the time to make our
decision in the relation to the balance of your request, to
8 November 2023, an
extension of four weeks which factors the Labour weekend holiday.
22.
This extension is necessary because the data for monies received or paid in
relation to costs awards for or against our clients is not recorded separately. If it
exists, it will be recorded in our trust account, along with information relating to
all other transactions for the relevant period that have gone through our trust
account. It is not therefore straightforward to identify any relevant costs’
information.
23.
We have been provided with the relevant trust account records but will need to
analyse that information to identify and check transactions for any relevant
costs’ information. This requires us to assess a large quantity of information and
meeting the original time limit will unreasonably interfere with our operations.
Proactive release
24.
Please note that we may publish this response (with your personal details
redacted), and any related documents, on Crown Law’s website if we decide
proactive release of this information is or may be in the public interest. If you
have any concerns about this, please let us know within 10 working days of the
date of this letter.
25.
You have the right to seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman of
either part of this decision. Information about how to make a complaint is
available at www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or freephone 0800 802 602.
26.
If you wish to discuss this decision with us, please feel free to contact the writer
on 027 839 3046.
Yours faithfully
Crown Law
Debra Harris
Crown Counsel
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