Albarouki v Prime Lawyers Pty Ltd [2013] NSWDC 130

District Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Albarouki v Prime Lawyers Pty Ltd [2013] NSWDC 130 Hearing dates: 30 July 2013 Decision date: 08 August 2013 Jurisdiction: Civil Before: Gibson DCJ Decision: (1) Summons dismissed. (2) Plaintiff pay defendant's costs. (3) Liberty to apply in relation to costs. (4) Exhibits retained for 28 days. Catchwords: COSTS ASSESSMENT - costs assessor overlooks plaintiff's submissions when assessing costs and issues a substitute Certificate of Determination to correct the error - whether functus officio - whether substitute certificate possible under s 371 Legal Profession Act 2004 (NSW) - procedural fairness - whether a person who is not a party to proceedings can be a party to a costs agreement - whether plaintiff, who did not sign the costs agreement, was bound by it - whether costs assessor's error in mistaking the plaintiff's solicitor's signature as being the plaintiff's vitiated his finding that the plaintiff was bound by the costs agreement - whether costs could be assessed for the period following the expiry of the costs agreement Legislation Cited: Legal Profession Act 1987 (NSW), ss 208JB and 208KHA Legal Profession Act 2004 (NSW), ss 349A, 371, 384 and 385 Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 (NSW), rr 28.2 and 36.17 Cases Cited: Aon Risk Services Australia Ltd v Australian National University (2009) 239 CLR 175 Bellevarde Constructions Pty Ltd v CPC Energy Pty Ltd [2011] NSWDC 55 Branson v Tucker [2012] NSWCA 310 Castano v Ashglow Pty Ltd [2009] NSWSC 919 Chapmans Ltd v Yandell [1999] NSWCA 361 Commonwealth Bank of Australia v Clune [2008] NSWSC 1125 Deveigne v Askar (2007) 239 ALR 370 Ford v Greer [2008] NSWSC 1181 Ghose v Cx Reinsurance Company Ltd and Ors [2010] NSWSC 110 Gorczynski v AWM Dickinson & Son [2005] NSWSC 277 Griffith v Australian Broadcasting Corporation [2013] NSWSC 750 Honest Remark Pty Ltd v Allstate Explorations NL [2008] NSWSC 439 Johnson v Madden [2000] NSWSC 463 Lange v Back and Schwartz [2009] NSWDC 180 Madden v New South Wales IMC [1999] NSWSC 196 McCausland v Surfing Hardware International Holdings Pty Ltd (2010) 11 DCLR (NSW) 294 Minister for Immigration and Cultural Affairs (MIMA) v Bhardwaj (2002) 187 ALR 117 Nabatu Pty Ltd v Crawley t/as Aubrey F Crawley & Company (Supreme Court of New South Wales, Harrison M, 9 April 1998) Pentelow v Bell Lawyers Pty Ltd trading as Bell Lawyers [2013] NSWSC 111 re Brougham [1926] SASR 423 Reynolds v Whittens [2002] NSWSC 155 Smith v Binet [2000] NSWSC 464 Starlink International Group Pty Ltd v Coles Supermarkets Australia Pty Ltd [2011] NSWSC 1154 Swaab v Sayed [2013] NSWSC 887 Taylor v Walker [2006] NSWSC 279 TCN Channel 9 Pty Ltd v Mahony (1993) 32 NSWLR 397 Wentworth v Rogers [2006] NSWCA 145 Texts Cited: Professor Dal Pont, Law of Costs, 2nd Ed., 2009 (LexisNexis, Australia) Second Reading Speech (Hansard, 16 September 1993, p 3277) Ritchies Uniform Civil Procedure NSW (LexisNexis, Australia) Category: Principal judgment Parties: Plaintiff: Nidal Albarouki Defendant: Prime Lawyers Pty Ltd Representation: Plaintiff: Mr T Boyd Defendant: Mr D Feller SC / Mr P Folino-Gallo Plaintiff: Kheir Lawyers Defendant: Prime Lawyers Pty Ltd File Number(s): 2012/234378 Publication restriction: None