Wang v Farkas [2014] NSWCA 29

Court of Appeal Supreme Court New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: Wang v Farkas [2014] NSWCA 29 Hearing dates: 16 December 2013 Decision date: 26 February 2014 Before: Bathurst CJ at [1]; Beazley P at [2]; Basten JA at [3] Decision: (1) Set aside the judgment and orders made in the District Court on 20 May 2011 in so far as they dismissed the appeal from the order made by the magistrate in the Local Court with respect to the costs of the proceedings before him. (2) In place thereof direct that the District Court set aside the order made by the magistrate with respect to costs and substitute a judgment in favour of Mr Farkas in an amount of $22,315, such judgment to take effect from the date of the order for costs made in the Local Court. (3) Set aside the judgment and orders of the District Court made on 21 October 2011 with respect to the costs of the appeal. (4) In place thereof, direct that the applicants pay the expenses and disbursements of the defendant (Mr Farkas) incurred in relation to the challenge to the apprehended personal violence orders and that Mr Farkas pay so much of the applicants' costs as are attributable to the orders made in the Local Court with respect to costs, subject to an allowance for any disbursements incurred by Mr Farkas in seeking to enforce the orders of the District Court prior to the commencement of the proceedings in this Court. (5) Make no order as to the costs of the parties in this Court. (6) Give liberty to the parties to file written submissions, not to exceed 7 pages, within 10 days of delivery of this judgment, with a further 7 days to respond by submissions not exceeding 3 pages. [Note: The Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 provide (Rule 36.11) that unless the Court otherwise orders, a judgment or order is taken to be entered when it is recorded in the Court's computerised court record system. Setting aside and variation of judgments or orders is dealt with by Rules 36.15, 36.16, 36.17 and 36.18. Parties should in particular note the time limit of fourteen days in Rule 36.16.] Catchwords: ADMINISTRATIVE LAW - judicial review - jurisdictional error - power of magistrate to award costs for time spent by litigant in person in prosecuting proceedings for apprehended violence order - power to award costs against defendants jointly and severally