Prothonotary of the Supreme Court of New South Wales v Smith [2020] NSWSC 769

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Prothonotary of the Supreme Court of New South Wales v Smith [2020] NSWSC 769 Hearing dates: 12 June 2020 Date of orders: 24 June 2020 Decision date: 24 June 2020 Jurisdiction: Common Law Before: Wilson J Decision: (1) Declare that the defendant is guilty of contempt as described in the statement of charge set out at [6] of the Summons filed on 15 August 2019. (2) The defendant is convicted of contempt of court. (3) The defendant is to pay a fine in the sum of $15,000, to the Registrar of the Supreme Court of New South Wales, within 30 days from today. (4) The defendant is to pay the Prothonotary's costs of these proceedings, in the sum of $50,000. Catchwords: CONTEMPT – contempt of the District Court of New South Wales – declaration of contempt – solicitor who disclosed CCTV footage produced under compulsion by a litigant without the leave of the court – gross negligence of obligation to court – early apology tendered to the court – acknowledgment of guilt – remorse and contrition – willingness to pay plaintiff's costs – need for denunciation – role of general deterrence Legislation Cited: Supreme Court Rules 1970 (NSW) Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 (NSW) Cases Cited: Evans v Citibank [2000] NSWSC 1017 Hearne v Street (2008) CLR 125; [2008] HCA 36 Registrar of the Court of Appeal v Maniam [No 2] (1992) 26 NSWLR 309 Smith v The Queen (1991) 25 NSWLR 1 Wood v Staunton (No 5) (1996) 86 A Crim R 183 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Prothonotary of the Supreme Court of New South Wales (Plaintiff) Mark Rodger Smith (Defendant) Representation: Counsel: D Kell SC (Plaintiff) J Caldwell (Plaintiff) D Sibtain (Defendant) T Bateman (Defendant)