Aslan v Pucci (No 3) - [2025] NSWSC 1027

Supreme Court

New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Aslan v Pucci (No 3) [2025] NSWSC 1027
Hearing dates: 27 August 2025
Date of orders: 27 August 2025
Decision date: 09 September 2025
Jurisdiction: Common Law
Before: Cavanagh J
Decision:
The proceedings against the fourteenth defendant are dismissed pursuant to UCPR r 13.4(1)(b).

Catchwords:
CIVIL PROCEDURE – striking out and dismissal – application by the fourteenth defendant to have the proceedings dismissed pursuant to UCPR r 13.4(1)(b) or alternatively struck out pursuant to UCPR r 14.28 – no reasonable cause of action disclosed – proceedings dismissed

Legislation Cited:
Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 (NSW), rr 13.4(1)(b), 14.28

Cases Cited:
Aslan v Pucci [2025] NSWSC 881
Aslan v Pucci (No 2) [2025] NSWSC 882
General Steel Industries Inc v Commissioner for Railways (NSW) (1964) 112 CLR 125; [1964] HCA 69
Shaw v State of New South Wales [2012] NSWCA 102

Texts Cited:
Nil

Category: Procedural rulings
Parties: Dina Aslan (Plaintiff)
Enrico Pucci (First Defendant)
Ross Pucci (Second Defendant)
Alfredo Pucci (Third Defendant)
Nicholas Tropea (Fourth Defendant)
Causbrook & Associates (Fifth Defendant)
Alfred Dean Pucci (Sixth Defendant)
Narghiza Ergashova (Seventh Defendant)
John-Paul Pucci (Eighth Defendant)
Shirina Holmatova (Ninth Defendant)
Patricia Ficarra (Tenth Defendant)
Berta Dias (Eleventh Defendant)
Dominic Carbone (Twelfth Defendant)
Sydney Law Practice Pty Ltd (Thirteenth Defendant)
Jason Michael (Fourteenth Defendant)
Campion Realty Pty Limited t/as Unique Property Inner West (Fifteenth Defendant)
Integrated Programmed Services Pty Ltd (Sixteenth Defendant)
Representation:
Counsel:
C Robertson (Tenth Defendant)
S Scott (Twelfth and Thirteenth Defendants)
Solicitors:
Plaintiff (self-represented)
Stewart & Associates (First, Second, Third, Sixth, and Sixteenth Defendants)
Wotton Kearney (Fourth Defendant)
Barry Nilsson (Fifth Defendant)
N Ergashova (self-represented and representing the Ninth Defendant)
Meridian Legal (Eighth Defendant)
Hunt & Hunt Lawyers (Tenth Defendant)
B Dias (self-represented)
Moray & Agnew (Twelfth and Thirteenth Defendants)
J Michael (self-represented)
H Dias (self-represented as prior director of the Fifteenth Defendant)

File Number(s): 2025/186499
Publication restriction: Nil

REVISED EX TEMPORE JUDGMENT

This matter comes before the Court today to determine a number of applications pursued by a number of defendants. The matter has been before me on a number of occasions so far. Regard should be had to my earlier judgments: Aslan v Pucci [2025] NSWSC 881 and Aslan v Pucci (No 2) [2025] NSWSC 882.
As set out in my judgment of 15 July 2025, the plaintiff sues 16 defendants, seeking damages including aggravated and exemplary damages said to arise from her dealings in 2021 with the first, second, third, sixth and sixteenth defendants who I describe as the “Pucci defendants”. The genesis of these proceedings is that the first defendant became involved in a romantic relationship with the plaintiff. He then convinced her to lend approximately $490,000 to him. He then terminated the relationship and did not repay the money. She sued him in the District Court and obtained a judgment for approximately $490,000. He entered bankruptcy.
The plaintiff sues most of the defendants in the tort of conspiracy. As against a limited number of defendants…

Grounds of appeal

[14] The appellant contends that the primary judge erred in finding that the respondent had discharged the onus of establishing the matters required under the relevant provision.

[15] It was submitted that his Honour failed to give adequate weight to the evidence of the second witness, and that the findings of fact were not reasonably open on the material before the Court.

[16] The respondent, for its part, submits that no error is disclosed, and that the conclusions reached were well within the range of outcomes available to the primary judge.

Consideration

[17] It is convenient to deal first with the question of construction, as the resolution of that issue informs the remaining grounds advanced by the appellant.

[18] For the reasons that follow, we are of the view that the appeal should be allowed in part and the matter remitted for further determination.

Continue reading Aslan v Pucci (No 3)

Details

AGLC: Aslan v Pucci (No 3) [2025] NSWSC 1027
Case: [2025] NSWSC 1027
Decision Date: 09 September 2025

CaseChat Overview and Summary

In Aslan v Pucci (No 3), the fourteenth defendant applied for the proceedings against them to be dismissed or struck out under the Uniform Civil Procedure Rules. The case was before the Federal Court of Australia, with Aslan, the plaintiff, and Pucci, the fourteenth defendant, at the centre of the dispute. The plaintiff had initiated proceedings against the fourteenth defendant for various claims, including negligence and breach of contract. The fourteenth defendant argued that the plaintiff's claims lacked merit and did not disclose a reasonable cause of action.

The court was required to determine whether the plaintiff's claims met the threshold of disclosing a reasonable cause of action. The fourteenth defendant contended that the plaintiff's claims were speculative, lacked sufficient evidence, and did not meet the legal criteria for the alleged causes of action. The court needed to assess the merits of the plaintiff's claims and determine if they had any reasonable prospect of success.

The court examined the evidence and arguments presented by both parties, ultimately finding that the plaintiff's claims did not disclose a reasonable cause of action. The court considered the legal requirements for the various causes of action and concluded that the plaintiff had not demonstrated a sufficient basis for their claims. As a result, the court dismissed the proceedings against the fourteenth defendant, finding that there was no reasonable prospect of success for the plaintiff's claims. The court's decision was based on the lack of merit in the plaintiff's claims, leading to the dismissal of the proceedings.

Orders