Nicholas Francis John Bolton v John Ljubomir Atanaskovic and Lawson Andrew Jepps Traiding as Atanaskovic Hartnell [2024] NSWSC 298

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Nicholas Francis John Bolton v John Ljubomir Atanaskovic and Lawson Andrew Jepps Traiding as Atanaskovic Hartnell [2024] NSWSC 298 Hearing dates: 7 & 8 March 2024 Date of orders: 8 March 2024 Decision date: 08 March 2024 Jurisdiction: Common Law Before: Campbell J Decision: (1) Under r 7.29(2) UCPR, I grant leave to Mr Paul Dalligan of Blue Rock Law to file and serve a notice of intention of ceasing to act within five days of the date hereof. (2) Vacate the hearing date of 13 March 2024. (3) Direct the plaintiff to file and serve the evidence upon which he relies and his written submissions on or before 8 April 2024, in which regard time is to be treated of the essence. (3) Adjourn the defendant's motion of 1 March 2024 as part heard before me to 9:30 AM on 12 April 2024. (4) List the proceedings for directions before me on the same date at the same time. (5) The plaintiff is to pay the defendant's costs thrown away by reason of the adjournment and of 7 and 8 March 2024. (6) The defendant to have liberty to apply in respect of an application for a direction that the plaintiff pay the hearing allocation fee forthwith. Catchwords: CIVIL PROCEDURE – summary disposal – dismissal of proceedings – want of due dispatch – delay occasioned by the plaintiff's repeated non-compliance with case management court orders – delay attributable to (i) plaintiff's failure to put his solicitor in funds and (ii) solicitor's pressing personal circumstances – plaintiff desirous of further progressing the proceedings – inappropriate to dismiss proceedings. CIVIL PROCEDURE – occupations – legal practitioners – application for leave to file notice of intention of ceasing to act – relationship between plaintiff and solicitor irretrievably broken down – cause shown – leave granted. Legislation Cited: Legal Profession Uniform Law 2014 (NSW), s 89 Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 (NSW), rr 7.29(2), 12.7 Category: Procedural rulings Parties: Nicholas Francis Bolton (Plaintiff) John Ljubomir Atanaskovic and Lawson Andrew Jepps trading as Atanaskovic Hartnell (First Defendant) Australian Style Holdings Pty Ltd (Second Defendant) Representation: Counsel: No appearance (Plaintiff) D Robertson (Defendant) S Lipp (for Mr Dalligan)