Bourke Street cafe Barfly’s has agreed to hand over $646,250 to the court in trust in an ongoing spat over its legal bills with a law firm that negotiated a $2.4 million settlement for the cafe in a negligence case.
A judge has criticised a law firm that is suing its former client, Melbourne cafe Barfly’s, for $745,000 in legal fees after the firm sought to join the brother-in-law of Barfly’s owner Tony Hachem to the case.
The owner of Melbourne’s Barfly’s, which has been sued by its former law firm for unpaid fees relating to a $2.4 million settlement negotiated for the Flinders Street cafe in negligence proceedings, has raised questions about the nearly $1 million in fees charged by the firm and a barrister that worked on the case.
A law firm that negotiated a $2.4 million settlement for Melbourne’s Barfly’s in a negligence suit against the Bourke Street cafe’s former solicitors is now in litigation itself against Barflys over unpaid fees, but a bid by the firm for the cafe to hand over $745,000 to the court in trust has fallen flat.
A Melbourne-based law firm was negligent when it advised the owners of Barflys bar and cafe in Bourke Street to settle a case against its landlords for $341,500 because of changes to the law on retail leases, an appeals court has found.