John Ljubomir Atanaskovic trading as Atanaskovic Hartnell v Anthony James Robey & Ors [2014] NSWSC 150

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: John Ljubomir Atanaskovic trading as Atanaskovic Hartnell v Anthony James Robey & Ors [2014] NSWSC 150 Hearing dates: 14 February 2014 Decision date: 28 February 2014 Jurisdiction: Equity Division Before: Kunc J Decision: Orders for default judgment and consent declaration Catchwords: PRACTICE - Default judgment - Application by solicitor in respect of fees - Need to demonstrate no statutory impediment to suit - Legal Profession Act 2004 (NSW), s 331 Legislation Cited: Land Titles Act 1925 (ACT) Legal Profession Act 2004 (NSW) Service and Execution of Process Act 1992 (Cth) Category: Principal judgment Parties: John Ljubomir Atanaskovic, and the other persons named in Schedule A, trading as Atanaskovic Hartnell (Plaintiff) Anthony James Robey (First Defendant) Gabriele Robey (Second Defendant) The NSW Trustee and Guardian (Third Defendant) Representation: Counsel: M.W. Sneddon and K. Tang (Plaintiff) G. Salier (Solicitor) (Third Defendant) Solicitors: Atanaskovic Hartnell (Plaintiff) G. Salier (Third Defendant) File Number(s): 2013/352885 Publication restriction: No

Judgment

Summary 1By notice of motion filed before me in the Applications List on 14 February 2014, the plaintiff seeks default judgment (both as to a liquidated sum and for possession of land) against the first and second defendants. As between the plaintiff and the third defendant I was invited to make a consent declaration and resolve the question of costs between them. But for one matter, I would have been able to deal with those applications in the course of the list. However, I reserved the matter for further written submissions from the plaintiff. Those submissions have now been provided and I am able to dispose of the motion and the proceedings in favour of the plaintiff, save that I have come to the view that there should be no order as to costs as between the plaintiff and the third defendant.