Simonidis Steel Lawyers Brisbane Pty Ltd v Johnston; Green v Johnston

In the case before the court, the parties involved were Simonidis Steel Lawyers Brisbane Pty Ltd, Johnston, Green, and other respondents. The dispute centred on an application for the appointment of trustees for the sale of property under section 38 of the Property Law Act 1974 (Qld), amidst existing or prospective proceedings under the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth). The legal issues the court needed to decide were whether the court should exercise its discretion to refuse or stay the application for trustees due to the presence of ongoing or impending family law proceedings, and whether the court should stay the application in light of existing orders made by the Federal Magistrates Court.

The court found that the subject matter of the counterclaim was unrelated to the original proceedings, thus it did not comply with the pleading rules as per UCPR r 178(1). Consequently, the counterclaim was struck out. Additionally, the court determined that the general rule that costs follow the event should apply, as the applicant in the originating application had no recoverable costs and had not submitted an order for costs. The court also ruled that there was no basis to impose indemnity costs on the first respondent as no finding was made that the counterclaim was not based upon a genuine belief.

The final orders delivered ex tempore on 20 March 2015 included striking out the first respondent’s counterclaim and ordering the first defendant to pay the costs of the second and third defendants’ application and the counterclaim against them, assessed on the standard basis. Furthermore, the originating application for the appointment of trustees was stayed pending further order.