Telstra Ltd v Sulaiman (No 2) [2024] NSWSC 441

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Telstra Ltd v Sulaiman (No 2) [2024] NSWSC 441 Hearing dates: 19 April 2024 Decision date: 19 April 2024 Jurisdiction: Equity - Commercial List Before: Stevenson J Decision: (1) Note that His Honour's Associate will contact the parties on Monday 22 April 2024 with available dates for a hearing of the plaintiff's case in chief; once the hearing date is known, stand over the defendants' Notices of Motion filed 1 and 5 February 2024 to that date; (2) Note that, once a date for such hearing is set, the Court will make directions for: (a) the defendants to file and serve a Commercial List Response in which they will, if so advised, assert an entitlement to rely on the privilege against self-incrimination and, in that event, not be required to admit or deny the allegations in the Commercial List Statement; (b) the plaintiff to serve its evidence in chief and to give discovery; (3) Note that if the defendants, in their List Response, invoke reliance on the privilege against self-incrimination: (a) the defendants will not, prior to the hearing of the plaintiff's case in chief, be required to serve any evidence or give discovery; (b) the defendants will be required, at the conclusion of the plaintiff's case in chief, to inform the Court whether they wish to make an application under UCPR r 29.9 that the plaintiff's case be dismissed or whether, rather, they wish to adduce evidence in response to the plaintiff's case; (c) the Court will then consider what steps should be taken in relation to the defendants' Notices of Motion of 1 and 5 February 2024 and in relation to the fixing for hearing the balance of the proceedings; (4) Costs of today of the defendants' Notices of Motion filed 1 and 5 February 2024 are costs in the cause Catchwords: CIVIL PROCEDURE – stay of proceedings – concurrent civil and criminal proceedings – prejudice to the defendants – whether defendants may be permitted to decline to admit or deny allegations in the Commercial List Statement Legislation Cited: Crimes Act 1900 (NSW) Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 (NSW) Cases Cited: Telstra Ltd v Sulaiman [2024] NSWSC 440 Texts Cited: Practice Note SC EQ 3 Category: Procedural rulings Parties: Telstra Limited (Plaintiff) Qarttullah Sulaiman (First Defendant) Azatullah Sulaiman (Second Defendant) Khalida Sulaiman (Third Defendant) Representation: Counsel: C Tam (Plaintiff) C Parkin (First Defendant) H Donaldson (Second and Third Defendants)