Burrows v Law Society of New South Wales (No 4) [2018] NSWSC 943

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Burrows v Law Society of New South Wales (No 4) [2018] NSWSC 943 Hearing dates: On the papers Date of orders: 21 June 2018 Decision date: 21 June 2018 Jurisdiction: Common Law Before: Adamson J Decision: (1) Order the plaintiff, pursuant to s 98(4) of the Civil Procedure Act 2005 (NSW), to pay the first defendant's costs in the specified gross sum of $54,000, excluding GST. Catchwords: COSTS – application for costs in gross sum – no substantive response to first defendant's evidence – appropriate to make order Legislation Cited: Civil Procedure Act 2005 (NSW), ss 56, 98(4) Cases Cited: Bechara (trading as Bechara and Company) v Bates [2016] NSWCA 294 Burrows v Council of the Law Society of New South Wales [2018] NSWSC 235 Burrows v Council for the Law Society of New South Wales (No 3) [2018] NSWSC 737 Category: Costs Parties: Zali Burrows (Plaintiff) Council for the Law Society of New South Wales (Defendant) Representation: Counsel: Zali Burrows (Plaintiff, self represented) Carol Webster SC (Defendant)

Solicitors: Zali Burrows (Plaintiff) Law Society of New South Wales (Defendant) File Number(s): 2018/24244

Judgment

Introduction 1. On 22 May 2018 I published my reasons for decision in this matter and ordered Zali Burrows (the plaintiff) to pay the Council for the Law Society of New South Wales' (the defendant's) costs of the proceedings, including the hearing on costs: Burrows v Council for the Law Society of New South Wales (No 3) [2018] NSWSC 737. I also granted leave to the defendant to apply for an order that its costs be paid in a gross sum pursuant to s 98(4) of the Civil Procedure Act 2005 (NSW) (the Act). 2. By notice of motion filed on 5 June 2018 the defendant applied for an order pursuant to s 98(4) of the Civil Procedure Act and sought that it be paid the gross sum of $54,800. It filed an affidavit of Ann-Marie Foord sworn 5 June 2018 and an affidavit of John Fleming sworn 6 June 2018. 3. My Associate contacted the parties to ascertain whether they agreed that the application be dealt with on the papers. The defendant responded to say that it agreed to it being dealt with in that way. No response was received from the plaintiff. On 15 June 2018, the return date of the notice of motion, the Registrar referred the notice of motion for hearing before me. Mr Flax, who appeared for the defendant, informed me that he had received an email that morning at 7.57am to say that Ms Winfield of counsel would appear on the motion and would seek to have the matter adjourned. Ultimately, at 9.45am Ms Winfield appeared. I made directions and listed the matter for hearing before me at 2pm on 21 June 2018. 4. On 19 June 2018 Ms Burrows sent an email to my Associate indicating that she was content for the matter to be dealt with on the papers.