Birketu Pty Ltd ACN 003 831 392 & Anor v. Atanaskovic & Ors
Case No.
S52/2024
Case Information
Lower Court Judgment
15/12/2023 Supreme Court of New South Wales (Court of Appeal) (Ward P; Kirk JA; Simpson AJA)
Catchwords
Costs – General rule that self-represented litigants cannot recover costs for own time – Whether partners of unincorporated law firm entitled to recover costs for work done by employed solicitors of that firm in proceedings brought by or against partners of firm – Whether Court of Appeal erred finding first and second respondents able to recover costs of employed solicitors in proceedings in which they were self-represented solicitor litigants by their unincorporated law firm – Whether Court of Appeal erred finding s 98(1) of Civil Procedure Act 2005 (NSW) ("CPA") and definition of costs in s 3(1) authorised recovery of costs – Whether Court of Appeal erred in finding employed solicitor rule operated to authorise recovery of costs – Whether Court of Appeal erred in declining to follow United Petroleum v Herbert Smith Freehills [2020] VSCA 15 in applying CPA to recovery of costs by employed solicitors of self-represented solicitor litigants.
Documents*
11/04/2024 Determination (SLA, Canberra)
23/04/2024 Notice of appeal
24/05/2024 Written submissions (Appellants)
24/05/2024 Chronology (Appellants)
24/06/2024 Written submissions (First and Second Respondents)
11/07/2024 Reply
17/10/2024 Hearing (Full Court, Canberra) (Audio-visual recording)
17/10/2024 Outline of oral argument (Appellants)
17/10/2024 Outline of oral argument (First and Second Respondents)
05/02/2025 Judgment (Judgment summary)