Loumbos v Gray [2019] NSWSC 569

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Loumbos v Gray [2019] NSWSC 569 Hearing dates: 15 May 2019 Date of orders: 20 May 2019 Decision date: 20 May 2019 Jurisdiction: Common Law Before: Harrison J Decision: Respondents to furnish the plaintiff's file to plaintiff forthwith upon plaintiff complying with the condition that he pays either into Court or a mutually satisfactory trust fund the sum of $30,000 as security for respondents' costs Catchwords: COSTS – where respondents validly assert a lien over file of plaintiff as security for unpaid costs – where there is no evidence that the plaintiff could not pay the amount claimed by the respondents – whether current litigation would be stultified if plaintiff required to provide security to the respondents beyond an offer to pay the claimed costs at a later time – whether the security that the plaintiff should furnish as a condition of the provision of the file by the respondents is reasonable – whether respondents' alleged failure to comply with Legal Profession Uniform Law s 174(1) affects their right to claim a lien – plaintiff to pay by way of security for the release of the file a proportion of the costs claimed by respondent Legislation Cited: Legal Profession Uniform Law (NSW), ss 174, 178, 472 Legal Profession Uniform Law Australian Solicitors' Conduct Rules (NSW) 2015, r 15 Category: Procedural and other rulings Parties: Valentine John Loumbos (Plaintiff) Fortis Law Group Pty Limited (Respondents) Representation: Counsel: D Moujalli (Plaintiff)

Solicitors: Australian Business Lawyers & Advisors (Plaintiff) Fortis Law Group Pty Limited (Respondents) File Number(s): 2017/208822 Publication restriction: Nil