Citigroup Pty Ltd; ex parte Circuit Finance Australia Pty Ltd [2013] NSWSC 526

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Citigroup Pty Ltd; ex parte Circuit Finance Australia Pty Ltd [2013] NSWSC 526 Hearing dates: 8 May 2013 Decision date: 08 May 2013 Jurisdiction: Common Law Before: Adamson J Decision: 1. The funds which have been paid into Court by the plaintiff, Citigroup Pty Ltd be dispersed as follows: 1.1 70% to Circuit Finance Australia ACN 112 117 898 (Receivers and Managers appointed) (In Liquidation); and 1.2 30% to Sukhdev Singh. 2. Make no order as to costs. Catchwords: PROCEDURE-payment of funds out of court under r 55.11 Uniform Civil Procedure Rules Legislation Cited: Uniform Civil Procedure Rules, r 55.11 Cases Cited: Rice v Rice (1853) 61 ER 646 Category: Interlocutory applications Parties: Citigroup P/L (Plaintiff) Circuit Finance Aust Limited (First Applicant) Sukhdev Singh (Second Applicant) Representation: Counsel: S Balafoutis (First Applicant) J Jordan (Solicitor) (Second Applicant) Solicitors: Piper Alderman (First Applicant) Jordan Djundja Lawyers (Second Applicant) File Number(s): 2013/21071 Publication restriction: Nil

Judgment

Introduction 1By amended summons filed on 5 February 2013 Citigroup Pty Ltd (Citigroup), as plaintiff, sought an order that it pay into Court an amount being the net surplus proceeds of the sale of certain property owned by Mr Pham located at 107 Hughes Street, Cabramatta (the Property). Since there was no order to the contrary, there was no defendant named in the proceedings. The order sought was made by Harrison AsJ on that date and the moneys were paid into Court. 2Notice was given to the persons potentially entitled to the money and, relevantly, notices of motion were filed by Circuit Finance Australia Ltd (Circuit Finance) and Sukhdev Singh for payment out of the moneys which had been paid into Court by Citigroup. 3The priority between the applicants of the respective notices of motion has been agreed between the parties but, in any event, has been amply established by the evidence, as set out in the following reasons.