Stradford (a pseudonym) v Judge Vasta (No 2)
[2023] FCA 1364
In this "unique and unusual" case, the court weighed
in on whether a party must pay costs for abandoned expert evidence,
and whether the other party must pay costs for their expert
evidence in response to the abandoned evidence.
Background
The applicant was falsely imprisoned, and sought an award of
general and aggravated damages for deprivation of liability. In
Stradford (a pseudonym) v Judge Vasta [2023] FCA 1020, the
court found the applicant was entitled to a sizable award of
damages. The matter was then relisted to hear arguments as to an
appropriate costs order.
Expert evidence
The applicant was ordered to be compensated for psychiatric
injury and associated loss of earning capacity. In support of his
economic loss claim, the applicant called an expert accountant, Ms
JB, who gave opinion evidence by calculating the economic loss
based on certain instructions and assumptions concerning
