Balzola v Council of the Law Society of New South Wales (No. 2)

Balzola v Council of the Law Society of New South Wales (No. 2) involved the plaintiff, Balzola, challenging a decision made by the defendant, the Council of the Law Society of New South Wales. The dispute centred around the setting aside of a judgment on notice of motion, under rule 36.16 of the Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 1999 (NSW), and the associated costs of the proceedings. The case was heard in the Supreme Court of New South Wales.

The court was tasked with determining whether the plaintiff was denied procedural fairness during the proceedings, whether there was a misapprehension of the facts by the court, and if the judgment should be varied to reflect an appropriate order as to costs. The court acknowledged that there were no submissions made at the hearing regarding the costs, but noted that correspondence between the parties was not brought to its attention at the time of the original judgment.

In its reasoning, the court found that there was no misapprehension of the facts, and no denial of procedural fairness. However, the court acknowledged that it had not considered the correspondence between the parties at the time of the original judgment. Consequently, the court varied the judgment to reflect that each party was to bear its own costs. This decision was made in light of the absence of submissions regarding the costs and the importance of considering all relevant correspondence when making a final determination on costs.