Kekatos Lawyers Pty Ltd v Rahme [2023] NSWSC 528

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Kekatos Lawyers Pty Ltd v Rahme [2023] NSWSC 528 Hearing dates: 20 April 2023 Date of orders: 18 May 2023 Decision date: 18 May 2023 Jurisdiction: Common Law Before: Schmidt AJ Decision: Judgment in favour of Kekatos. The parties should confer and file orders reflecting the conclusions which I have reached within 14 days. Catchwords: APPEALS — appeal from Local Court — claim for payment of outstanding legal costs — where Court of Appeal earlier awarded disputed legal costs to client as damages payable by a third party — where client fails to pay legal costs despite being paid these costs as damages and then successfully resists their recovery in Local Court — whether conflicting judgments given by Court of Appeal and Local Court about the disputed costs — whether client has obtained impermissible windfall as the result of wrongdoing and an abuse of process — whether Legal Profession Uniform Law (NSW) prohibited solicitor from bringing Local Court proceedings — appeal upheld Legislation Cited: Civil Procedure Act 2005 (NSW), s 56 Legal Profession Act 2004 (NSW) Legal Profession Uniform General Rules 2015 (NSW), r 72A Legal Profession Uniform Law (NSW), Pt 4.3, ss 169, 172, 174, 178, 179, 180, 184, 185, 194, 198 Local Court Act 2007 (NSW), s 40 Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 (NSW), r 42.1 Cases Cited: D'Orta-Ekenaike v Victoria Legal Aid (2005) 223 CLR 1; [2005] HCA 12 Gnych v Polish Club Ltd (2015) 255 CLR 414; [2015] HCA 23 Potter v Minaham (1908) 7 CLR 277; [1908] HCA 82 Rahme v Benjamin & Khoury Pty Ltd [2019] NSWCA 211 Rahme v Benjamin & Khoury Pty Ltd (No 2) [2019] NSWCA 239 Rippon v Chilcotin (2001) 53 NSWLR 198; [2001] NSWCA 142 Tomlinson v Ramsey Food Processing Pty Ltd (2015) 256 CLR 507; [2015] HCA 28 Wentworth v Rogers (2006) 66 NSWLR 474; [2006] NSWCA 145 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Kekatos Lawyers Pty Ltd (Plaintiff) Dana Rahme (Defendant) Representation: Counsel: Mr Q Rares (Plaintiff) Mr C Bevan (Defendant)