Murphy v Lewkovitz; Lewkovitz v Murphy (No 2) [2021] NSWDC 516

District Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Murphy v Lewkovitz; Lewkovitz v Murphy (No 2) [2021] NSWDC 516 Hearing dates: Defendants' written submissions – 04 August 2021 Plaintiff's written submissions in response – 11 August 2021 Defendants' submissions in reply – 18 August 2021 Date of orders: 08 September 2021 Decision date: 08 September 2021 Jurisdiction: Civil Before: Hatzistergos DCJ Decision: 1 Defendants to pay the Plaintiff's costs on the Plaintiff's claim; 2 Cross Defendant to pay the Cross Claimants' costs on the Cross Claim. Catchwords: COSTS –– Consideration of both primary and Cross-Claim – Where parties had mixed success – Whether costs should follow "the event" –– Whether some apportionment appropriate – Where the Plaintiff's success was less than what was claimed COSTS –– Cross-Claim – Where the Cross-Claim was resisted by the Plaintiff/Cross-Defendant – Where the Court finds that fairness to both parties requires the presumption in UCPR 42.1 to be applied Legislation Cited: Australian Consumer Law, s 30 Civil Procedure Act 2005 (NSW) s 90 Residential Tenancies Act 2010 (NSW) s 26 Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 (NSW) rr, 42.1, 20.26 Cases Cited: ABB Engineering Construction Pty Limited v Abigroup Contractors Pty Limited [2003] NSWSC 867 Arnold v Forsythe [2012] NSWCA 18 Baker v Towle [2008] NSWCA 73 Boden v Gleeson [2013] NSWCA 447 Bostik Australia Pty Ltd v Liddiard (No 2) [2009] NSWCA 304 Calderbank v Calderbank [1976] Fam Law 93; [1975] 3 All ER 333; [1975] 3 WLR 586 Dodds Family Investments Pty Ltd v Lane Industries Pty Ltd (1993) 26 IPR 261 Elite Protective Personnel Pty Ltd v Anor v Salmon (No 2) [2007] NSWCA 373 Halsey v Milton Keynes General NHS Trust; Steel v Joy [2004] ALL ER (D) 125 Hooker v Gilling (No 2) [2007] NSWCA 214 McInnes v Rheem Australia Pty Limited [2021] NSWCA 89 Mobile Innovations ltd v Vodafone Pacific Ltd [2003] NSWSC 423 Mond v Berger (2005) 21 BCL 125; [2004] VSC 150 Sanders v Snell (No 2) (2000) 174 ALR 53 Sze Tu v Lowe (No 2) [2015] NSWCA 91 Tetbury Pty Ltd [2017] NSWSC 139 Texts Cited: G E Dal Pont, Law of Costs 4th Edition Category: Costs Parties: Christopher Murphy (Plaintiff/Cross-Defendant) George Lewkovitz and Ilana Lewkovitz (Defendants'/ Cross-Claimants') Representation: Counsel: Mr D Hand (Plaintiff/Cross-Defendant) Mr A Maroya (Defendant/Cross-Claimant)