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Fact Sheet 6
REGULATED COSTS - VICTIMS COMPENSATION
Costs comprise the professional fees and expenses, and disbursements charged by a legal practitioner. The costs of a solicitor, for example, include professional fees and disbursements such as fees for medical reports or other expert reports, court filing fees, fees of process servers/agents and barrister’s fees.
Legal practitioners in New South Wales are generally free to charge for their services on any basis they choose, provided their charges are “fair and reasonable”. Most legal practitioners either charge a fixed amount or calculate the amount that they will charge their client at an hourly rate.
Certain costs are regulated by legislation. The Victims Support and Rehabilitation Act 1996 regulates the costs that a legal practitioner can be awarded for legal services carried out in respect of a victim’s compensation claim.
Legal practitioner professional fees
Currently a legal practitioner can be awarded up to $825 (plus GST) in relation to all aspects of work carried out in connection with an application for statutory victims compensation.
A client who is not satisfied with the assessor’s decision about their case has a right to appeal. The following is the amount legal practitioners can currently be awarded in relation to an appeal before the Tribunal:
- $1,100 (inc GST) for an appeal determined by the Tribunal without a hearing; and
- $1,650 (inc GST) for an appeal determined by the Tribunal with an oral hearing.
The assessor, or the Tribunal on appeal, may award either a greater or a lessor amount of costs.
If two or more legal practitioners have represented a client in the same claim, the assessor or the Tribunal on appeal, may apportion the amounts between them.
A legal practitioner can only charge a client the amount awarded by the assessor at determination or by the Tribunal on appeal. It should be also noted that if the assessor or Tribunal on appeal, disallows professional costs, the legal practitioner cannot recover such costs nor any disallowed legal disbursements from the client.
An applicant can appeal against the Tribunal’s decision to the District Court, but only on a question of law. The scale of fees does not apply in an appeal to the District Court, and a legal practitioner can enter into a costs agreement with the client. The District Court can order the payment of costs and/or that costs be assessed. [See OLSC Fact Sheets on Cost Disclosure and Costs Disputes]
Costs for witnesses attending hearings
Allowances and expenses for witnesses, except an applicant, who attend any hearing in connection with proceedings under the Act are paid by the Tribunal and the amount payable is set out in the Victims Compensation Rules 1997 and takes account of:
- loss of earnings for witnesses attending the hearings;
- meals and accommodation; and
- travelling expenses.
Disbursements
Disbursements refer to expenses incurred in connection with making a claim and include, for example, the amount paid by you or your solicitor for medical reports or other expert reports required in connection with your claim.
The assessor or Tribunal has the discretion to pay disbursements deemed both reasonable and necessary, up to a maximum limit of $1,100 (plus GST), but not including any amount for which provision has been made in an award of compensation such as:
- allowances or expenses for witnesses at the hearing; or
- expenses incurred in attending the hearing by the applicant, any agent representing the applicant or (if the applicant is not the person to whom the application relates) the person to whom the application relates; or
- fees for a barrister or other advocate.
The payable amount for disbursements also includes any amount paid to an Authorised Report Writer in connection with a claim for the compensable injury of psychological or psychiatric disorder.
Any claim for disbursements should be lodged with supporting documentation before an assessor determines the application.
April 2009
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