Behnia v Sarraf (No 2) [2019] NSWDC 281

District Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Behnia v Sarraf (No 2) [2019] NSWDC 281 Hearing dates: 24 May 2019; 20 June 2019 Date of orders: 25 June 2019 Decision date: 25 June 2019 Jurisdiction: Civil Before: Dicker SC DCJ Decision: (1) The amount of costs determined by the court as owed by the defendant to the plaintiff pursuant to the 20 March 2017 costs order of the Supreme Court is $26,256.50. (2) The amount of costs of costs assessment determined by the court as owed by the defendant to the plaintiff is $5,668.27. (3) The defendant must pay to the plaintiff the remuneration costs of the Costs Assessor and the costs of the Review Panel in the sum of $2,454.38. (4) The defendant is to pay the plaintiff's costs of and incidental to the hearings on 24 May 2019 and 20 June 2019 as agreed or assessed. (5) The parties have liberty to apply within 14 days to seek a different costs order to that set out in (4) above or to correct any errors in calculation. Catchwords: Appeal – costs - whether court can remit matter to Assessor or Review Panel upon allowing the appeal – whether the court can remit matter to a costs Assessor as Referee under Part 20.14 - proper approach to the assessment of costs where indemnity costs ordered Legislation Cited: Legal Profession Uniform Law Application Act 2014 (NSW), ss 75, 76, 77, 82, 83, 85, 89 Legal Profession Act 2004 (NSW), s 384 Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005, Part 20.14; Part 42.5 Cases Cited: Attard v James Legal Pty Ltd [2010] NSWCA 311 Behnia v Sarraf [2019] NSWDC 138 Newell v De Costi [2018] NSWCA 49 Texts Cited: M Brabazon, "Appeals from Costs Assessments in NSW" [2016] Precedent AULA 76 Category: Costs Parties: Masud Behnia (Plaintiff) Ardalan Sarraf (Defendant) Representation: Counsel: A Cornish (Plaintiff) R Christie (Defendant) (24 May 2019) R Christie and R Golovina (Defendant) (20 June 2019)