Leung v Chen [2022] NSWDC 35

District Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Leung v Chen [2022] NSWDC 35 Hearing dates: 17 February 2022 Date of orders: 17 February 2022 Decision date: 25 February 2022 Jurisdiction: Civil Before: Wilson SC DCJ Decision: ORDERS: 1. leave granted to the Defendant to file an Amended Statement of Claim; 2. the Amended Statement of Claim is to be filed and served no later than 4pm 18 February 2022; 3. grant leave to Plaintiff to serve evidence in chief on or before 4pm on 17 March 2022; 4. grant leave to the Defendant to serve further evidence in response no later than 14 April 2022; 5. grant leave to the Plaintiff to file and serve evidence in reply on or before 4pm on 28 April 2022; 6. vacate Hearing listed for 21 February 2022; 7. the Plaintiff pay the Defendant's costs occasioned by the amendment and thrown away by the vacation of the Hearing date; 8. the former solicitor of the Plaintiff (Mr Grant Spedding) is required to show cause why he ought not pay those costs on an indemnity basis and forthwith; 9. list the proceeding on 17 March 2022 for Mr Spedding to show cause as referred to in the preceding paragraph; 10. the current solicitor of the Defendant is to notify Mr Spedding of today's orders; 11. in the event Mr Spedding wants to put on evidence, it is to be filed and served no later than Friday 11 March 2022; 12. in the event the parties wish to put on evidence in reply, such evidence is to be filed and served no later than 15 March 2022; 13. I list these proceedings for Hearing on Wednesday 25 May 2022 with an estimate of 3 days (including reading time for the judge); 14. I direct the Parties to comply with the Standard Orders for Hearing, attached to District Court Civil Practice Note 1; 15. liberty to apply on 3 days notice in the event that there is a need to vary the timetable. Such listing is to occur in advance of any slippage; 16. reasons for orders made today reserved. Catchwords: CIVIL – application to amend Statement of Claim and vacate Hearing – case as pleaded fundamentally flawed- seeming incompetence and lack of diligence of former solicitor- solicitor to show cause as to why he ought not to pay COSTS - new Hearing date set. Legislation Cited: Civil Procedure Act 2005 (NSW) ss 56, 57, 58, 99 Category: Procedural rulings Parties: Francis Leung (Plaintiff) Annie Chen (Defendant) Representation: Counsel: Mr AJ Munroe for the Plaintiff Mr Fielder for the Defendant File Number(s): 2020/303865