Hillsong Church Limited v Council of the City of Sydney (No 2) [2012] NSWLEC 118

Land and Environment Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Hillsong Church Limited v Council of the City of Sydney (No 2) [2012] NSWLEC 118 Hearing dates: 22 May 2012 Decision date: 22 May 2012 Jurisdiction: Class 1 Before: Pepper J Decision: See paragraph [57] Catchwords: COSTS: whether it is "fair and reasonable" for applicant to pay the respondent's costs of a notice of motion resolved prior to the hearing of a motion - whether the applicant acted unreasonably during the course of settlement negotiations - no order as to costs. Legislation Cited: Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979, s 97B Land and Environment Court Rules 2007, r 3.7 Cases Cited: Agonic Holdings Pty Ltd v Lithgow City Council [2009] NSWLEC 34 Hillsong Church Limited v Council of the City of Sydney [2012] NSWLEC 1059 St Marys Land Limited v Valuer-General of New South Wales [2011] NSWLEC 2 Category: Procedural and other rulings Parties: Hillsong Church (Applicant) Council of the City of Sydney (Respondent) Representation: Mr M A Staunton (Applicant) Mr P C Tomasetti SC (Respondent) Addisons Lawyers (Applicant) Maddocks (Respondent) File Number(s): 10576 of 2011

EXTEMPORE Judgment

The Council of the City of Sydney Seeks its Costs of a Notice of Motion in Class 1 Proceedings 1By notice of motion filed 11 April 2012, the Council of the City of Sydney ("the council") sought various costs orders against Hillsong Church Limited ("Hillsong") arising out of Class 1 proceedings in this Court's jurisdiction before Brown ASC (Hillsong Church Limited v Council of the City of Sydney [2012] NSWLEC 1059). 2Happily, prior to the hearing of the notice of motion the parties were able to resolve almost all of the costs orders sought. Unhappily, however, the issue of who should pay the costs of the motion itself remains outstanding. It is this issue that the Court must now determine. 3For the reasons that follow, I have decided that there should be no order as to the costs of the motion.