Australian Capital Financial Management Pty Ltd v Australian Financial Complaints Authority Limited (No 2) [2022] NSWSC 94

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Australian Capital Financial Management Pty Ltd v Australian Financial Complaints Authority Limited (No 2) [2022] NSWSC 94 Hearing dates: On the papers Decision date: 11 February 2022 Jurisdiction: Equity - Commercial List Before: Ball J Decision: (1) The Court declares that, by determining that the plaintiff should pay the second and third defendants the amount of $88,194 in compensation for legal costs, the First Defendant exceeded the limit for compensation for indirect financial loss under Rule D.4 of the Australian Financial Complaints Authority Complaint Resolution Scheme Rules dated 1 November 2018; (2) The matter be remitted back to the first defendant to make a determination according to law; (3) The agreement by the first defendant recorded in paragraph 2 of the orders made on 8 April 2021, being that the first defendant would not without first providing 21 days' notice to the plaintiff: (a) take any steps to enforce the Determination made on 17 February 2021, other than any steps taken in connection with this proceeding (including by way of cross-claim or other similar process); (b) publish the Determination made on 17 February 2021; or (c) determine to expel the Plaintiff from membership of AFCA, is discharged; (4) The plaintiff to pay 90 percent of the second and third defendants' costs of the proceeding on the ordinary basis. Catchwords: COSTS — Whether the matter should be referred back to AFCA to re-determine the issue of legal costs — Whether the plaintiff should pay the defendants' costs of the proceedings in this Court where the defendants were mostly successful Cases Cited: Australian Capital Financial Management Pty Ltd v Australian Financial Complaints Authority Limited [2021] NSWSC 1577 Category: Costs Parties: Australia Capital Financial Management Pty Ltd (Plaintiff) Australian Financial Complaints Authority Limited (First Defendant) Benyu Bai (Second Defendant) Wenhua Yang (Third Defendant) Representation: Counsel: