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MOTOR ACCIDENTS COMPENSATION ACT 1999 - SECT 151

Costs where claims assessment made

151 Costs where claims assessment made

(cf 82D MAA)

(1) This section applies if an assessment is made under Part 4.4 of the amount of damages for liability under a claim.
(2) If the claimant does not accept that amount of damages in settlement of the claim within 21 days after the certificate of assessment is issued, then the following provisions have effect with respect to liability for costs incurred after the certificate of assessment was issued--
(a) the insurer is liable to pay the costs if--
(i) the amount of court awarded damages in respect of the claim exceeds the amount of damages specified in the certificate of assessment by at least $2,000 or 20% (whichever is the greater), or
(ii) the amount of court awarded damages in respect of the claim exceeds the amount of damages specified in the certificate of assessment by at least $200,000,
(b) the claimant is liable to pay the costs if the amount of court awarded damages in respect of the claim does not exceed the amount of damages specified in the certificate of assessment, but the maximum amount that a claimant is liable to pay for the insurer's costs is $25,000 (or such other amount as is determined by the Authority by order published in the Gazette),
(c) except as provided by paragraph (a) or (b), the insurer and claimant are liable to pay their own costs.
(3) This subsection applies if court proceedings are adjourned under section 111 (2) for further claims assessment because a party to the proceedings has adduced significant evidence in the proceedings that was available to the party at the time of the original claims assessment but was not made available to the Commission. In any such case, the court is to take the failure of the party to make that evidence available to the Commission into account and may require the party to pay a greater share of the costs incurred after the initial certificate of assessment was issued and until a further certificate of assessment is issued in connection with the claim.
(4) The regulations may make provision for or with respect to the manner in which amounts referred to in this section are to be adjusted (to take account of inflation and other matters) for the purposes of enabling the comparisons provided for in this section to be made.
(5) In this section--

"costs" means costs payable on a party and party basis in relation to a claim, including court fees prescribed under section 154.

"court awarded damages" means all damages of any kind awarded by a court in respect of a claim (without the addition of interest) after taking into account any deduction or reduction in accordance with Chapter 5.



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