Sayed v National Australia Bank Limited

Court of Appeal

Supreme Court

New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation:	Sayed v National Australia Bank Limited [2021] NSWCA 28
Hearing dates:	On the papers (Submissions 11 December 2020)
Date of orders:	9 March 2021
Decision date:	09 March 2021
Before:	Emmett AJA
Decision:	Order that the Respondent’s costs of the Summons filed on 15 August 2019 and the Notice of Motion filed on 19 August 2020 to be paid by the Applicant be fixed in the gross sum of $118,000.
Catchwords:	COSTS — party/party — court’s discretion — costs fixed on gross sum basis
Legislation Cited:	Civil Procedure Act 2005 (NSW), s 98(4)
Cases Cited:	Sayed v National Australia BankLtd [2020] NSWCA 177
Texts Cited:	Nil
Category:	Costs
Parties:	Bilal (Bill) Sayed (Applicant) National Australia Bank Limited (Respondent)
Representation:	Counsel: Applicant (self-represented) G Lucarelli (Respondent) Solicitors: Dentons Australia Ltd; Thomson Geer from 2 March 2021 (Respondent)
File Number(s):	2019/253854
Publication restriction:	Nil
Decision under appeal	Court or tribunal: Supreme Court of New South Wales Jurisdiction: Common Law Citation: [2015] NSWSC 420 Date of Decision: 16 April 2015 Before: Harrison AsJ File Number(s): 2010/135614

Judgment

1. On 4 August 2020, I ordered that a summons filed by Mr Bill Sayed on 15 August 2019 seeking an extension of time for filing a notice of appeal (the Extension Summons) be dismissed. [1] I ordered Mr Sayed to pay the costs of the respondent to the Extension Summons, National Australia Bank Limited (the Bank). I also ordered that any question of varying the order for costs to seek a gross lump sum costs order be reserved to the Bank, any such application to be made within 14 days. By notice of motion filed on 19 August 2020, the Bank applied for an order under s 98(4) of the Civil Procedure Act 2005 (NSW) that its costs of the proceedings to be paid by Mr Sayed be fixed on a gross sum basis. No point has been taken by Mr Sayed concerning the time of filing the notice of motion. The parties have indicated that they are content for the application to be dealt with in the absence of oral argument and without further submissions.

   1. See Sayed v National Australia Bank Ltd [2020] NSWCA 177.

2. The assessment of costs is slightly complicated by the fact that the Extension Summons has been dealt with and managed concurrently with other appeal proceedings between Mr Sayed and the Bank (the Appeal Proceedings). The Bank relies on the affidavit sworn on 18 August 2020 by Ms Emma Hodgman of Dentons, who have acted for the Bank in relation to both the Extension Summons and the Appeal Proceedings. Both the Extension Summons and the Appeal Proceedings have been supervised by Ms Hodgman as the solicitor on the record. Ms Danielle Lysenko has had the day-to-day carriage of the proceedings under Ms Hodgman’s supervision.

3. A summary (the Summary) of the work undertaken for the period 15 August 2019 to…