IN THE MATTER OF AN APPLICATION FOR AN ORDER NISI FOR A WRIT OF PROHIBITION; EX PARTE KARTA PTY. OTD. AND OTHERSS

IN- THE MATTER OF AN APPLICATION FOR AN ° ORDER NISI FOR A WRIT" PROHIBITION ;

5 AUGUST 1988

: JUDGMENT WILSON J: | (in Chambers)

INTHE MATTER "OF AN APPLICATION" FOR AN

P, - TA PTY. A.

This is an ex parte application for an order nisi for a writ of prohibition directed to Mr Justice Fisher sitting in Adelaide in the bankruptcy jurisdiction of the Federal Court

of Australia.

The writ is sought to prohibit his Honour from hearing actions 910/39 of 1986 and 910/40 of 1986, to the extent that the actions are brought against the applicants. The ground of the application is that his Honour is disqualified from hearing the actions by reason of a reasonable suspicion that he has or may have prejudged adversely to the applicants factual issues and issues of credibility relevant to the actions. The applicants failed to persuade his Honour that he should disqualify himself. The hearing is scheduled to begin on Monday next, 8 August 1988, and the applicants seek an interim stay of the hearing to complement

an order nisi.

Each action involves an application to the Federal Court by the Official Receiver relating to the bankrupt estate of Ross Daniel Hodby, a person who formerly carried on a business in Adelaide as a land and finance broker. Action

910/39 relates to a mortgage over land situated at Campbell

2.

Park in South Australia owned by the first applicant, Karta Pty. Ltd. ("Karta"), the mortgagor. Barbara Joy Hunt and Sophia Karounos, the third and fourth applicants, are directors of Karta and Krakat Pty. Ltd. ("Krakat"), the second applicant, and are named in the mortgage as

co-borrowers.

Action 910/40 relates to a mortgage over land situated at Moana in South Australia owned by Karta, the mortgagor. In this mortgage Karta and Krakat are named as joint

borrowers.

The nature of the issues which will be litigated in the actions are described by the applicant Sophia Karounos in