Read the full judgment text of HCCT 28/2004 on BabelCite. This 高等法院原訟法庭 judgment was delivered on 14 December 2010 before Hon Saunders J.
Costs — Indemnity costs — Litigation conduct — Concealment of settlement agreement — Professional negligence counterclaim — Abuse of court process — Cost-effectiveness of litigation procedure — Architectural services — Construction dispute — Sanctioned payments — The developer engaged Hsin Yieh Architects & Associates Limited to provide architectural services for a property development. The architects claimed unpaid fees of around $2.5 million, which the developer denied and counterclaimed alleging professional negligence, relying on documents from another related action and concealing a key settlement agreement with the main contractor. The court found that the developer’s conduct was vexatious, misleading, and an abuse of litigation process by resisting discovery and making late payments only after compelled disclosure. The counterclaim was wholly unsubstantiated and eventually abandoned. The architects were entitled to costs on an indemnity basis for having to defend serious, unsubstantiated professional negligence allegations and for the costs caused by the developer’s conduct. The developer was ordered to pay the architects’ costs on an indemnity basis, and the court emphasized that inappropriate litigation conduct sabotages procedural economy and should be sanctioned accordingly.
Legal issues: Whether indemnity costs should be awarded
Outcome: The developer must pay the architects’ costs of and incidental to the proceedings on an indemnity basis.
Cited by 1 case