Franco v Mazzetti (No 3) [2024] NSWLEC 42

Land and Environment Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Franco v Mazzetti (No 3) [2024] NSWLEC 42 Hearing dates: 11 April 2024 Date of orders: 26 April 2024 Decision date: 26 April 2024 Jurisdiction: Class 2 Before: Pritchard J Decision: The Court makes the following orders: (1) The respondent, Ms Ozlem Mazzetti, is guilty of contempt for failing to comply with order 3 of the Court's orders made on 24 February 2022 in proceeding 236725 of 2021. (2) Pursuant to Part 55, Division 4, rule 13 of the Supreme Court Rules 1970 (NSW), the respondent is fined $500 for failure to comply with order 3 of the Court's orders made on 24 February 2022 in proceeding 236725 of 2021. Catchwords: CONTEMPT — notice of motion seeking civil contempt conviction — charge of failure to comply with two court orders made pursuant to the Trees (Disputes Between Neighbours) Act 2006 (NSW) — ex parte hearing SENTENCE — contempt — failure to comply with court orders — lower end of seriousness — fine imposed — ex parte hearing COSTS — whether the applicant should be awarded costs in respect of the contempt proceedings — no order as to costs Legislation Cited: Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 (NSW) ss 3A, 21A Evidence Act 1995 (NSW) s 78 Fines Act 1996 (NSW) s 6 Land and Environment Court Act 1979 (NSW) s 5 Trees (Disputes Between Neighbours) Act 2006 (NSW) ss 7, 12 Land and Environment Court Rules 2007 (NSW) r 6.3 Supreme Court Rules 1970 (NSW) Pt 55 Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 (NSW) r 10.14 Cases Cited: Atanaskovic v Birketu Pty Ltd [2023] NSWCA 312 Bell Lawyers Pty Ltd v Pentelow (2019) 269 CLR 233; [2019] HCA 29 Blacktown City Council v Hambly (No 2) [2023] NSWLEC 91 Blacktown City Council v Hambly (No 3) [2023] NSWLEC 141 Cachia v Hanes (1994) 179 CLR 403; [1994] HCA 14 Canterbury City Council v Ali Ahmed [2016] NSWLEC 160 Council of the City of Sydney v The Owners of Strata Plan 18820 [2017] NSWLEC 81 Dowling v Prothonotary of the Supreme Court of New South Wales (2018) 99 NSWLR 229; [2018] NSWCA 340 Evans v Citibank Ltd [2000] NSWSC 1017 Franco v Mazzetti [2022] NSWLEC 1090 Georges River Council v Hamade [2023] NSWLEC 71 Globaltel Australia Pty Ltd v MCI Worldcom Australia Pty Ltd [2001] NSWSC 545 Jones v Stephenson [2020] NSWLEC 154 Jones v Stephenson [2022] NSWLEC 36 Latoudis v Casey (1990) 170 CLR 534; [1990] HCA 59 Liverpool Plains Shire Council v Rumble (No 3) (2014) 205 LGERA 170; [2014] NSWLEC 139 Prothonotary of the Supreme Court of NSW v A [2017] NSWSC 495 Smith v The Queen (1991) 25 NSWLR 1; (1991) 56 A Crim R 148 Sutherland Shire Council v Perdikaris [2020] NSWLEC 111 Tri Huu Pham v Emile Papaioannou [2019] NSWLEC 180 Witham v Holloway (1995) 183 CLR 525; [1995] HCA 3 Wood v Staunton (No 5) (1996) 86 A Crim R 183 Texts Cited: Ritchie's Uniform Civil Procedure NSW (LexisNexis, 2024) D Rolph, Contempt (Federation Press, 2023) Category: Principal judgment Parties: Joe Franco (Applicant) Ozlem Mazzetti (Respondent) Representation: J Franco (Self-represented) (Applicant) No appearance (Respondent) File Number(s): 2021/236725 Publication restriction: Nil