New South Wales Supreme Court CITATION : Lyons v Wende [2007] NSWSC 100 HEARING DATE(S) : 14 February 2007 JUDGMENT OF : Cooper AJ EX TEMPORE JUDGMENT DATE : 14 February 2007 DECISION : I decline to order that the Assessor or members of the Review Panel be joined as parties to the action. LEGISLATION CITED : Legal Profession Act 1987 s 208NA PARTIES : James Lyons trading as Lyons & Lyons v Herbert Wende & 4 Ors FILE NUMBER(S) : SC 13627/05 F Austin - Plaintiff COUNSEL : In person - First Defendant In person - Third Defendant K Richardson - on behalf of Attorney General of NSW Lyons & Lyons - Plaintiff SOLICITORS : Self - First Defendant Self - Third Defendant I V Knight - Crown Solicitor IN THE SUPREME COURT OF NEW SOUTH WALES COMMON LAW DIVISION COOPER AJ WEDNESDAY 14 FEBRUARY 2007 13627/05 JAMES W LYONS TRADING AS LYONS & LYONS v HERBERT WENDE & 4 ORS JUDGMENT – declining application to join 1 HIS HONOUR: In their notices of motion the defendants seek an order that the Assessor and members of the Cost Review Panel be joined as defendants, or as parties to this matter before the Court. Section 208NA provides that a cost assessor can be made a party to any appeal against a determination or decision of the costs assessor only by order of the Supreme Court. 2 It seems to be common ground, and I accept that there is no reason in this case to join them as parties to this particular appeal. It is normal to join a tribunal appealed from where the application is in the nature of a prerogative writ. This is not such a case. Here the application is a straight forward appeal, either under s 208L or s 208M of the Legal Profession Act 1987. 3 Furthermore, this is not a case where any order is sought to be made against the Cost Assessor or members of the Review Panel in their personal right. In such a case it would be necessary to join them, to give them an opportunity to be heard on the orders which should or should not made against them. 4 Here, the claim is that the Assessor and the members of the cost Review Panel have either made an error of law and/or an error of fact, so that leave should be granted under s 208M of the Act. There is certainly no allegation of impropriety on the part of the Assessor or members of the Review Panel nor are there any orders sought to be made against them. 5 In these circumstances I decline to order that the Assessor or members of the Review Panel be joined as parties to this action. ********** DISCLAIMER - Every effort has been made to comply with suppression orders or statutory provisions prohibiting publication that may apply to this judgment or decision. The onus remains on any person using material in the judgment or decision to ensure that the intended use of that material does not breach any such order or provision. Further enquiries may be directed to the Registry of the Court or Tribunal in which it was generated.