Middle East v Nemes [2000] NSWSC 1213

New South Wales Supreme Court

CITATION : Middle East v Nemes [2000] NSWSC 1213 FILE NUMBER(S) : SC 20173/96 HEARING DATE(S) : 08/11/00, 09/11/00 JUDGMENT DATE : 21 December 2000

PARTIES : Middle East Trading Consultants Pty Limited v Nemes & Anor JUDGMENT OF : James J at 1

COUNSEL : R MacFarlan QC/P Durack - Plaintiffs D Davies SC - Defendants SOLICITORS : P A Somerset & Co - Plaintiffs Phillips Fox - Defendants CATCHWORDS : Solicitor's negligence - assessment of damages - Hungerfords v Walker damages DECISION : Assessment of damages

THE SUPREME COURT OF NEW SOUTH WALES COMMON LAW DIVISION

JAMES J

Thursday 21 December 2000

20173/96 - Middle East Trading Consultants Pty Limited v Nemes & Anor

JUDGMENT 1 HIS HONOUR: In this matter I delivered a judgment on 14 July 2000. In that judgment I held that the defendant Mr Nemes had been negligent in advising the plaintiff in relation to (i) the distributorship agreement of 9 July 1992 (ii) in November 1992 (iii) in mid-1993 and (iv) in September 1993. 2 In pars308-331 of my judgment of 14 July 2000 I said a number of things about the assessment of the damages the plaintiff should recover for the negligence of Mr Nemes but I said that I would defer making an assessment of those damages, until after counsel had had the opportunity of making further submissions on damages. I stated that it was my intention to assess damages only in accordance with the assumptions underlying what counsel for the plaintiff had described in written submissions as scenario A for the assessment of damages. 3 Counsel have now made further written and oral submissions concerning the assessment of damages in accordance with scenario A. I have received, either before or after I delivered my judgment of 14 July 2000, no fewer than seven sets of written submissions dealing, wholly or partly, with the assessment of damages in accordance with scenario A, namely:-