Woo v Metis Law Pty Ltd [2021] NSWSC 1328

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Woo v Metis Law Pty Ltd [2021] NSWSC 1328 Hearing dates: On the papers Date of orders: 18 October 2021 Decision date: 18 October 2021 Jurisdiction: Equity Before: Darke J Decision: Defendant ordered to pay plaintiff's costs of proceedings. Catchwords: COSTS – plaintiff sought removal of defendant's caveats recorded against property of which the plaintiff was registered proprietor of a 1/100 share – property was the subject of a contract for sale to third parties – defendant rejected plaintiff's offer to place 1% of net sale proceeds in trust account pending agreement or Court order – defendant maintained that the plaintiff had a beneficial interest greater than the 1/100 share recorded in the register – defendant ultimately failed to press this point and parties settled proceedings without a determination on the merits – consent orders provided for plaintiff to pay defendant 1% of the net proceeds of sale – held it was almost inevitable that the caveats would be ordered to be removed to allow sale of property to complete – held that the settlement agreed to by the defendant can be regarded as a capitulation on its part – order that the defendant pay the plaintiff's costs of the proceedings. Legislation Cited: Civil Procedure Act 2005 (NSW), s 98 Real Property Act 1900 (NSW), s 74MA Cases Cited: Nichols v NFS Agribusiness Pty Ltd (2018) 97 NSWLR 681; [2018] NSWCA 84 Re Minister for Immigration and Ethnic Affairs; Ex Parte Lai Qin (1997) 186 CLR 622 Category: Costs Parties: Eric Woo (Plaintiff) Metis Law Pty Ltd (Defendant) Representation: Counsel: J T Johnson (Plaintiff) I King (Defendant)