Alam v Giampietro [2020] NSWDC 471

District Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Alam v Giampietro [2020] NSWDC 471 Hearing dates: 3, 4, 5, 8 April; 29, 30, 31 July; 1, 2, 5 August; 13 November; 2 December 2019; 22 June 2020 (written submissions) Date of orders: 21 August 2020 Decision date: 21 August 2020 Jurisdiction: Civil Before: P Taylor SC DCJ Decision: (1) Judgment in favour of the first plaintiff, Mr Alam, and second plaintiff, Mrs Saqiba Sattar, against the first defendant in the sum of $165,693.65. (2) Judgment for the second defendant against the plaintiffs. (3) Proceedings by the third plaintiff, Mrs Qamar Sattar, dismissed. Catchwords: NEGLIGENCE – professional negligence – client vs solicitor and barrister – advocate's immunity ESTOPPEL — issue estoppel — decisions to which applicable Legislation Cited: Civil Procedure Act 2005, s 99 Evidence Act 1995, s 91 Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005, r 7.10 Cases Cited: Alam v QBE Insurance (Australia) Limited (Unreported, District Court of New South Wales, Gibb DCJ, 18 March 2016) Alam v QBE Insurance (Australia) Limited (Unreported, District Court of New South Wales, Gibb DCJ, 15 December 2016) Alam v QBE Insurance (Australia) Ltd [2018] FCA 1560 Amalgamated Engineering Union (Aust Section), Ex parte; Re Jackson (1937) 38 SR (NSW) 13; (1937) 55 WN (NSW) 7 Arnold v National Westminster Bank plc [1991] 2 AC 93 Attorney General For Trinidad and Tobago v Eriché [1893] AC 518 Attwells v Jackson Lalic Lawyers Pty Ltd (2016) 259 CLR 1 Blair v Curran (1939) 62 CLR 464; [1939] HCA 23 Cachia v Isaacs (1985) 3 NSWLR 366 D'Orta-Ekenaike v Victoria Legal Aid (2005) 223 CLR 1 Donnellan v Woodland [2012] NSWCA 433 Giannarelli v Wraith (1988) 165 CLR 543 Henderson v Henderson (1843) 3 Hare 100 Jackson v Goldsmith (1950) 81 CLR 446 Karwala v Skrzypczak Re Estate of Ratajczak [2007] NSWSC 931 Kendirjian v Lepore (2017) 259 CLR 275 Kuru v New South Wales [2008] HCA 26 Maurice Blackburn Cashman v Brown (2011) 242 CLR 647; [2011] HCA 22 Trustees for the Roman Catholic Church for the Diocese of Bathurst v Hine [2016] NSWCA 213 Mulgrave Central Mill Co Ltd v Hagglunds Drives Pty Ltd [2001] QSC 040 Pollnow v Armstrong [2000] NSWCA 245 Tomlinson v Ramsey Food Processing Pty Ltd (2015) 256 CLR 507; [2015] HCA 28 Wende v Horwath (NSW) Pty Limited [2014] NSWCA 170 Texts Cited: Commonwealth of Australia v Cockatoo Dockyard Pty Limited [2007] HCATrans 150 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Muhammad Mahmud Alam (first plaintiff) Saqiba Sattar (second plaintiff) Qamar Sattar (third plaintiff) Leonardo Giampietro t/as Legal & Company (first defendant) Quang T Nguyen (second defendant) Representation: Counsel: Ms P A Horvath with Ms G Keesing (first defendant) Mr R Carey (second defendant)