Luck v Principal Registrar and Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Court of Australia (Permanent Stay) [2024] FCA 1256

Federal Court of Australia

Luck v Principal Registrar and Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Court of Australia (Permanent Stay) [2024] FCA 1256 File number: VID 870 of 2024

Judgment of: WHEELAHAN J

Date of judgment: 30 October 2024

Catchwords: HIGH COURT AND FEDERAL COURT — abuse of process – where the applicant lodged documents in the Federal Court of Australia (the Rejected Documents) seeking judicial review under the Administrative Decisions (Judicial Review) Act 1977 (Cth) and s 39B of the Judiciary Act 1903 (Cth) of decisions made by an officer of the Supreme Court of Victoria not to accept for filing an application for leave to appeal to the Victorian Court of Appeal, and denying the applicant's fee waiver application – where no decision was initially made to accept or reject the Rejected Documents – where the applicant commenced this proceeding seeking remedies in relation to the absence of a decision – where a Registrar of the Court then refused the Rejected Documents for filing under r 2.26 of the Federal Court Rules 2011 (Cth) on the basis that they were an abuse of the Court's process – where the applicant sought to shift the basis of this judicial review proceeding to impugn the Registrar's decision – held: the Registrar's decision was not affected by any error – the Rejected Documents represented an attempt to abuse the Court's processes – proceeding permanently stayed as an abuse of process.

Legislation: Constitution ss 51(xxix), 75(i), 75(v), 109 Administrative Decisions (Judicial Review) Act 1977 (Cth) ss 3(1), 5, 6, 7, Schedule 3 Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth) Schedule 2, ss 18, 21, 236 Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Cth) s 125 Federal Court of Australia Act 1976 (Cth) s 37M Judiciary Act 1903 (Cth) s 39B, 78B Social Security Act 1991 (Cth) Federal Court and Federal Circuit and Family Court Regulations 2022 (Cth) Federal Court Rules 2011 (Cth) rr 1.37, 2.26, 3.04 High Court of Australia (Fees) Regulations 2022 (Cth) Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006 (Vic) Supreme Court Act 1986 (Vic) s 129 Supreme Court (Fees) Regulations 2018 (Vic) regs 14, 16 Supreme Court (General Civil Procedure) Rules 2015 (Vic) r 28A.04(5)