WILLIAMSON v STATE OF NSW [2010] NSWSC 229

New South Wales Supreme Court

CITATION : WILLIAMSON v STATE OF NSW [2010] NSWSC 229

HEARING DATE(S) : Thursday 4 March 2010

JUDGMENT DATE : 30 March 2010

JURISDICTION : Common Law

JUDGMENT OF : Hall J at 1

(1) That proceedings numbered 3084 of 2007 be transferred from the District Court of New South Wales to the Sydney Registry of the Supreme Court of New South Wales. DECISION : (2) A declaration that the costs of the proceedings referred to in Order (1), the subject of the consent Judgment/Order dated 27 December 2008, are not regulated by the provisions of s.338 of the Legal Profession Act 2004. (3) Subject to paragraph (4), the defendant to pay the plaintiff's costs of and incidental to these proceedings. (4) In the event that the defendant seeks to be heard on the order as to costs in (3), grant liberty to apply, any such application to be made within 14 days of the date of this judgment.

CATCHWORDS : DAMAGES - COSTS - recovery of costs - application for declaratory relief - personal injury damages excluded by s.3B, Civil Liability Act 2002 - STATUTORY INTERPRETATION - action for alleged assault, false imprisonment and unlawful arrest - intentional torts excluded - cost capping provisions did not apply - meaning of "personal injury damages" in s.337(1) Legal Profession Act "... the same meaning as in Part 2 of the Civil Liability Act 2002" - statutory interpretation of phrase not limited to definition section in Part 2 but meaning to be derived from companion provisions, including the excluding provisions in s.11A which refers to s.3B of the Civil Liability Act - not limited by fixed cost in s.338, Legal Profession Act 2004

Civil Liability Act 2002 Civil Procedure Act 2005 LEGISLATION CITED : Interpretation Act 1987 Legal Profession Act 2004 Legal Profession Act 1987 Supreme Court Act 1970