Srotyr & Ors v Clissold & Anor [2015] NSWSC 1770

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Srotyr & Ors v Clissold & Anor [2015] NSWSC 1770 Hearing dates: 19 November 2015 Decision date: 27 November 2015 Jurisdiction: Equity - Duty List Before: White J Decision: Refer to paras [28] and [29] of judgment. Catchwords: CONTEMPT OF COURT – application for punishment for contempt of Court – construction of undertakings – undertakings noted by the Court but not expressed to be made either to the Court or inter partes – relevance of the Judge's asking the party's solicitor whether the undertakings were given – undertakings prevented defendant from dealing with certain funds, subject to exceptions – where undertakings were implicitly given on an interlocutory basis until further order, but no cross-undertaking as to damages was given – held, dismissing the application, that the undertakings were made inter partes and not to the Court

PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE – costs – variation of costs orders – plaintiff seeks variation of earlier costs order made by consent – where defendant breached undertakings given inter partes – where plaintiff knew that those undertakings may have been breached at the time that the costs order was made – held, dismissing the application, and assuming, without deciding, that the Court has power to vary such a costs order, that it would not be appropriate on these facts to vary the costs order Legislation Cited: Civil Procedure Act 2005 (NSW) Trade Practices Act 1974 (Cth) Cases Cited: Australian Consolidated Press Limited v Morgan (1965) 112 CLR 483 Cain v Glass (No. 1) (Supreme Court of New South Wales, Court of Appeal, 3 October 1985, unreported, BC8511322) George v Webb [2011] NSWSC 1608 Heperu Pty Ltd v Belle [2011] NSWSC 1151 at [25] Housewives United Buyers Co-operative Limited v Trustees of the Sisters of St Joseph (1980) 42 FLR 106 Kirkpatrick v Kotis [2004] NSWSC 1265; (2004) 62 NSWLR 567 Ross v Lane Cove Council [2014] NSWCA 50; (2014) 86 NSWLR 34 Short v Crawley (No 42) [2009] NSWSC 1110 Wyszynski v Bill [2005] NSWSC 110 Category: Procedural and other rulings Parties: John Srotyr (1st Plaintiff) Marion Enid Srotyr (2nd Plaintiff) Srotyr & Co Pty Limited (3rd Plaintiff) Keith Barry Clissold (1st Defendant) Metropolitan Taxation Services (Bankstown) Pty Ltd (2nd Defendant) Representation: Counsel: A Cornish (Plaintiffs) S J Burchett (1st Defendant)