Rahme v Kekatos Lawyers Pty Ltd [2024] NSWCA 31

Court of Appeal Supreme Court New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: Rahme v Kekatos Lawyers Pty Ltd [2024] NSWCA 31 Hearing dates: 29 November 2023 Date of orders: 19 February 2024 Decision date: 19 February 2024 Before: Payne JA at [1]; Mitchelmore JA at [2]; Simpson AJA at [50] Decision: (1) The application for leave to appeal is dismissed. (2) The applicant is to pay the respondent's costs including the costs of the draft notice of contention. Catchwords: CIVIL PROCEDURE — abuse of process — where former solicitors claim payment for legal costs — where client recovers legal costs as damages from third party in Court of Appeal — where client subsequently argues that not liable for the costs CIVIL PROCEDURE — Court of Appeal — application for leave to appeal — where applicant's submissions do not raise any point of principle or general importance, or disclose any substantial injustice — where applicant's success would make no practical difference APPEALS — appeal from Local Court under s 39 or s 40 of Local Court Act 2007 (NSW) — whether findings of fact can be made on appeal Legislation Cited: Legal Profession Uniform General Rules 2015 (NSW), rr 36(4), 42, 47 Legal Profession Uniform Law 2014 (NSW), Pts 4.2, 4.3, ss 135, 138, 144, 180, 198 Local Court Act 2007 (NSW), ss 39, 40, 41 Supreme Court Act 1970 (NSW), s 101(2)(r) Cases Cited: Autodesk Inc v Dyason (No 2) (1993) 176 CLR 300; [1993] HCA 6 Lesley-Swan v Owners SP 32735 [2013] NSWSC 1635 Liao v State of New South Wales [2014] NSWCA 71 Rahme v Benjamin & Khoury Pty Ltd (No 2) [2019] NSWCA 239 Rahme v Benjamin & Khoury Pty Ltd [2019] NSWCA 211 Reichel v Magrath (1889) 14 App Cas 665 Rose v Tunstall [2018] NSWCA 241 Timbercorp Finance Pty Ltd (in liq) v Collins (2016) 259 CLR 212; [2016] HCA 44 Tomlinson v Ramsey Foods (2015) 256 CLR 507; [2015] HCA 28 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Dana Rahme (Applicant) Kekatos Lawyers Pty Ltd (Respondent) Representation: Counsel: CJ Bevan / AJ Kaylinger (Applicant) Q Rares (Respondent)