Sundarjee Bros (Aust) Pty Ltd v Sanjay Sundarjee [2024] NSWSC 237

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Sundarjee Bros (Aust) Pty Ltd v Sanjay Sundarjee [2024] NSWSC 237 Hearing dates: 4 March 2024 Date of orders: 12 March 2024 Decision date: 12 March 2024 Jurisdiction: Equity - Commercial List Before: Nixon J Decision: (1) Declare that the Fourth Defendant was in contempt of this Court by engaging in the conduct described in each of: (a) Charge 1 (excluding subparagraph (a) of that Charge); and (b) Charge 2 (excluding subparagraph (a) of that Charge); in the Statement of Charge at Annexure B to the Plaintiff's Notice of Motion filed on 19 September 2023. (2) Order that the Fourth Defendant pay a fine of $50,000. (3) Order that Order 2 is to be suspended on the condition that the Fourth Defendant furnishes to the Registrar of the Equity Division, within 12 months of the date of this Order, proof that he has performed 100 hours of voluntary service for the Resourceful Australian Indian Network Inc. (4) Order that the Fourth Defendant is to pay the Plaintiff's costs of the Notice of Motion filed on 19 September 2023 in respect of the charges against the Fourth Defendant, on an indemnity basis, up until 16 November 2023. (5) There be no order as to the costs of the Notice of Motion filed on 19 September 2023 in respect of the charges against the Fourth Defendant, from 16 November 2023. Catchwords: SENTENCING – penalties – criminal contempt – deletion of documents in order to prevent production pursuant to an order of the Court COSTS – costs of separate sentencing hearing Legislation Cited: Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 (NSW) Fines Act 1996 (NSW), s 6 Supreme Court Rules 1970 (NSW), pt 55, r 13 Cases Cited: Australasian Meat Industry Employees' Union v Mudginberri Station Pty Ltd (1986) 161 CLR 98; [1986] HCA 46 Australian Securities and Investments Commission v Matthews [2009] NSWSC 285; (2009) 71 ACSR 279 Barbaro v The Queen (2014) 253 CLR 58; [2014] HCA 2 Circuit Finance Australia (recs and mgrs apptd) (in liq) v Sobbi [2010] NSWSC 912 Dowling v Prothonotary of the Supreme Court of New South Wales (2018) 99 NSWLR 299; [2018] NSWCA 340 Farahbakht v Midas Australia Pty Ltd [2006] NSWSC 1322 He v Sun (2021) 104 NSWLR 518; [2021] NSWCA 95 Kazal v Thunder Studios Inc (California) (2017) 256 FCR 90; [2017] FCAFC 111 Lane v Registrar of the Supreme Court of New South Wales (Equity Division) (1981) 148 CLR 245; [1981] HCA 35 Matthews v Australian Securities and Investment Commission [2009] NSWCA 155 Mirus Australia Pty Ltd v Gage [2017] NSWSC 1046 NHB Enterprises Pty Ltd v Corry (No 7) [2021] NSWSC 741 NHB Enterprises Pty Ltd v Corry (No 8) [2022] NSWSC 97 R v Thomson; R v Houlton (2000) 49 NSWLR 383; [2000] NSWCCA 309 Registrar of the Court of Appeal v Maniam (No 2) (1992) 26 NSWLR 309 Sun v He (No 2) [2020] NSWSC 1298 Vaysman v Deckers Outdoor Corporation Inc [2011] FCAFC 17; (2011) 276 ALR 596 Category: Sentence Parties: Sundarjee Bros (Aust) Pty Ltd (Plaintiff) Hasmukh Sundarjee (Fourth Defendant) Representation: Counsel: D McLure SC with A Smith (Plaintiff) J Hutton SC with S Hoare (Fourth Defendant) Solicitors: Mills Oakley (Plaintiff) Arnold Bloch Leibler (Fourth Defendant) File Number(s): 2022/00246803 Publication restriction: Nil