In Tower Insurance Ltd v Kilduff & anor [2019] NZCA 82 the Court of Appeal dismissed Tower’s appeal against a High Court decision that awarded the homeowners costs of $81,249 and disbursements of $122,515.20 after a trial about earthquake damage to the house at 101 Clifton Terrace, Sumner.  The Court of Appeal upheld the decision of Gendall J that Kilduff was successful after the hearing notwithstanding that on a claim for a cash payment of $1,952,891 from Tower; Kilduff only recovered a declaration that Tower was liable to pay up to $871,042.14 (including EQC) being net $628,516.01 for specified work once done. The Court noted that that it was not unusual for a plaintiff to obtain relief in the precise terms of the statement of claim.  Success on limited terms is still success for costs purposes.  Tower made “calderbank” offers of $650,000 in August 2017 and $734,000 in late October 2017.  Tower could not prove that its offers exceeded the amount recovered including costs and disbursements at the time of the offer.  So the offers had no effect on a costs award.  The Court noted that if Tower had made its $734,000 offer early in the dispute it would have beaten the amount recovered.  The Court of Appeal upheld the awarding of band C for witness statements, hearing preparation and written submissions.