Patty v Commonwealth Bank [2002] FCA 111

FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

Patty v Commonwealth Bank [2002] FCA 111

DEAN PATTY -v- COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA (ACN 123 123 124)

VI 2542 of 1996

RYAN J 19 FEBRUARY 2002

MELBOURNE

IN THE FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

VICTORIA DISTRICT REGISTRY VI 2542 of 1996

BETWEEN: DEAN PATTY

Applicant

AND: COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA (ACN 123 123 124)

Respondent

JUDGE: RYAN J

DATE OF ORDER: 19 FEBRUARY 2002

WHERE MADE: MELBOURNE

THE COURT ORDERS: 1. THAT the application be dismissed. Note: Settlement and entry of orders is dealt with in Order 36 of the Federal Court Rules.

IN THE FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

and

IN THE INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS COURT OF AUSTRALIA

VICTORIA DISTRICT REGISTRY VI 2542 of 1996

BETWEEN: DEAN PATTY

Applicant

AND: COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA (ACN 123 123 124)

Respondent

JUDGE: RYAN J

DATE: 19 FEBRUARY 2002

PLACE: MELBOURNE

SUPPLEMENTARY REASONS FOR JUDGMENT 1 On 4 August 2000, I published reasons for judgment in the Federal Court of Australia ("the earlier reasons") indicating why, if that Court had jurisdiction to entertain the motion for review of the order of Ryan JR of 19 February 1998 an order should be made in that Court setting aside the order of the learned Judicial Registrar. The present reasons for judgment should be read in conjunction with the earlier reasons and an expression or acronym used herein will have the same meaning as in the earlier reasons. For the reasons explained under the heading "Jurisdiction" in the earlier reasons, I concluded that the Federal Court had no jurisdiction to entertain the motion which, had it been instituted in IRCA, would have been judiciable by that Court. In the same part of the earlier reasons I indicated a course which I consider to be open to me as a Judge of IRCA as well as of the Federal Court. Consistently with that indication, the concluding paragraph [99] of the earlier reasons recited; "I shall adjourn the proceedings in this Court to a date to be fixed to enable the parties and their legal advisers to consider these reasons. On the adjourned date, subject to any further submissions which may be made by Counsel for either party, I shall, for the reasons explained in para 12 above, make an order as a Judge of IRCA that the proceedings instituted in the Federal Court on 12 March 1998 be treated for all purposes as having been instituted in IRCA. In the same capacity, I shall order that all of the evidence adduced and submissions made in those proceedings be treated as having been adduced and made in IRCA. For the reasons given above in discussing the merits of the application for review, the order of the Judicial Registrar of 19 February 1998 will be set aside and in lieu thereof there will be a declaration in IRCA that the Bank has contravened s 170DE(1) of the Act by terminating the employment of the applicant without a valid reason, or valid reasons for doing so. I shall then forthwith receive such submissions and evidence (if any) as the parties consider appropriate on the question of whether any, and if so which, of the consequential orders contemplated by s 170EE of the Act should be made. The application to the Federal Court will, if the course just outlined is followed, be formally dismissed on the date to which this matter is adjourned."