Attard v Rutkowski [2023] NSWCA 314

Court of Appeal Supreme Court New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: Attard v Rutkowski [2023] NSWCA 314 Hearing dates: 13 December 2023 Decision date: 15 December 2023 Before: White JA at [1]; Adamson JA at [3] Decision: (1) Leave to appeal refused. (2) Order the first applicant to pay the respondents' costs of the application for leave to appeal. Catchwords: LEAVE TO APPEAL — PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE — appeal against dismissal from appeal in Local Court — accountant sued for payment of outstanding fees claimed in invoices — amount in issue does not warrant grant of leave to appeal — evidence not adduced to prove basis of amounts claimed in invoices — whether plaintiff needs to do more to establish right to sums depends on whether quantum challenged by defendant — issue whether lump sum claimed in invoice with no explanation as to calculation is evidence of amount owing on invoice does not give rise to issue of principle or question of public importance in circumstances where quantum of invoices not challenged by defendant in defence and raised for the first time in closing submissions Legislation Cited: Supreme Court Act 1970 (NSW), s 101 Civil Procedure Act 2005 (NSW), ss 56, 58, 60 Cases Cited: Be Financial Pty Ltd as Trustee for Be Financial Operations Trust v Das [2012] NSWCA 164 Carolan v AMF Bowling Pty Ltd t/as Bennetts Green Bowl [1995] NSWCA 69 PPK Willoughby Pty Ltd v Baird [2019] NSWCA 48 Roude v Helwani [2020] NSWCA 310 Smits v Roach (2006) 227 CLR 423; [2006] HCA 36 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Anthony Attard (First Applicant) Advanced Property Investments Pty Ltd (Second Applicant) Advance Pallets Pty Ltd (Third Applicant) Attard Family Holdings Pty Ltd as Trustee for the Attard Investment Unit Trust (Fourth Applicant) Anthony Attard as Joint Trustee for the Attard Family Superannuation Fund (Fifth Applicant) Jason Paul Rutkowski (First Respondent) Carmen Attard as Joint Trustee for the Attard Family Superannuation Fund (Second Respondent) Representation: Counsel: J Horowitz (Applicants) P Boncardo (First Respondent)