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Donna Louise Sheehan v NSW Trustee and Guardian [2026] NSWSC 582 | Case summary | Zoe

NSWNSWSC

Donna Louise Sheehan v NSW Trustee and Guardian

[2026] NSWSC 582

Supreme Court of NSW|2026-05-19|Before: Hamill J (as Duty Judge)

View on NSW Caselaw

At a glance

Source facts

Court

Supreme Court of NSW

Decision date

2026-05-19

Before

Hamill J (as Duty Judge)

Catchwords

CIVIL LAW – where proceedings not authorised by named plaintiff – where proceedings commenced by one time solicitor in attempt to review costs assessment – proceedings dismissed – whether conduct should be referred to Legal Services Commissioner – procedural fairness – no referral where parties can lodge complaint

Source

Original judgment source is linked above.

Catchwords

CIVIL LAW – where proceedings not authorised by named plaintiff – where proceedings commenced by one time solicitor in attempt to review costs assessment – proceedings dismissed – whether conduct should be referred to Legal Services Commissioner – procedural fairness – no referral where parties can lodge complaint

Judgment

Source: NSW Caselaw (www.caselaw.nsw.gov.au). Converted to plain text by ZoeLaw. Not the official version.

Medium Neutral Citation: Donna Louise Sheehan v NSW Trustee and Guardian [2026] NSWSC 582

Hearing dates: 19 May 2026

Date of orders: 19 May 2026

Decision date: 19 May 2026

Jurisdiction: Common Law

Before: Hamill J (as Duty Judge)

Decision: (1) Order that these proceedings be dismissed with no order as to costs.
(2) Order that no further applications may be filed in either of these proceedings (2026/00051878 or 2025/00165500) without the leave of a Judge of this Court.
(3) Note the existence of the related proceedings, being case number 2025/00165500 of Donna Louise Sheehan v New South Wales Trustee and Guardian (Related Proceedings).
(4) Note that the plaintiff, Donna Louise Sheehan:
(a) Asserts that she did not provide instructions for the commencement of these or the Related Proceedings;
(b) Was unaware of these proceedings and the Related Proceedings until 20 April 2026 when she received a letter from the New South Wales Trustee and Guardian dated 15 April 2026;
(c) Consents to these proceedings being dismissed with no order as to costs.
(5) Note the agreement of the parties that the New South Wales Trustee and Guardian will not pursue recovery of legal costs from Ms Sheehan in the Related Proceedings.

Catchwords: CIVIL LAW – where proceedings not authorised by named plaintiff – where proceedings commenced by one time solicitor in attempt to review costs assessment – proceedings dismissed – whether conduct should be referred to Legal Services Commissioner – procedural fairness – no referral where parties can lodge complaint

This is a joint application by Donna Louise Sheehan, the putative plaintiff, and the New South Wales Trustee and Guardian, the defendant, in proceedings allegedly commenced by Ms Sheehan or on Ms Sheehan’s behalf in circumstances where both parties agree that she provided no instructions to commence those proceedings.
The proceedings were commenced by a person who, it would appear, had been a solicitor but their practising certificate was suspended from at least 14 August 2025.
The parties came before the Registrar this morning and sought an order that the proceedings be dismissed. That was a joint application. The parties asked the matter to be referred to the Duty Judge in order that the dismissal of the proceedings would have the force of a Judge having made the order.
The parties put before me a number of documents going back to proceedings in 2022, two sets of proceedings in 2025 and the current proceedings, all of which are related, and properly, as the parties agreed, ought not to have been separate proceedings.
The second, third and possibly fourth set of proceedings were instigated not by the current plaintiff but by the perhaps one-time solicitor no longer holding a practising certificate who was really seeking to litigate the quantum of the costs that they were able to obtain on an assessment.
The parties invited me to refer the papers to the Legal Services Commissioner, and on the material that has been tendered as Ex A, B, C and D, there was certainly some force in that suggestion. However, before taking a short adjournment, I invited the parties to consider two things. One was the procedural fairness of making such a referral without hearing from the former solicitor in question, and, secondly, why a complaint could not be made to the Legal Services Commissioner by either or both of the parties to the present proceedings.
When I returned, Ms Clemmett, who appears for the New South Wales Trustee and Guardian, and Ms Shafizadeh, who appears for the plaintiff, brought to my attention the case of Odtojan v Condon (No 2) [2023] NSWCA 149 and accepted that the general procedure would be to give a person in the position of this former solicitor some opportunity to be heard in order to show cause why a referral should not be made by a Court.
It would seem to me that would be the appropriate procedure if I were inclined to do so, but the second question I raised with the parties remains. That is, why someone cannot simply make a complaint against the former lawyer rather than having a referral enjoy, if you like, the force of a Judge of this Court making it.
I am not inclined to bring the matter back in order for the lawyer in question to show cause. The paperwork that I have read this morning, in a way, speaks for itself and I think it is better that I do not comment on it.
What does appear to be clear and not in dispute is that Ms Sheehan has not commenced the last sets of proceedings nor has she authorised them to be brought. The parties’ alternative resolution was that I make an order that no further proceedings be filed in either the last two sets of proceedings without leave being granted by a Judge of this Court, and I am well and truly satisfied on the material that such an order should be made.
For those reasons, I make the following orders:
Order that these proceedings be dismissed with no order as to costs.
Order that no further applications may be filed in either of these proceedings (2026/00051878 or 2025/00165500) without the leave of a Judge of this Court.
Note the existence of the related proceedings, being case number 2025/00165500 of Donna Louise Sheehan v New South Wales Trustee and Guardian (Related Proceedings).
Note that the plaintiff, Donna Louise Sheehan: