Hungerford v Cantor [2020] NSWDC 326

District Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Hungerford v Cantor [2020] NSWDC 326 Hearing dates: 24 June 2020 Date of orders: 24 June 2020 Decision date: 24 June 2020 Jurisdiction: Civil Before: Abadee DCJ Decision: See paragraph 86 Catchwords: PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE – appeal from decision of the Small Claims Division of Local Court – judgment against plaintiff for damaging defendant's residential property – application for adjournment of hearing in this Court made by plaintiff – whether utility in adjournment having regard to reason for adjournment and the nature of appeal to this Court – unusually lengthy procedural history – plaintiff unrepresented in Local Court because of absence of solicitor – unsuccessful adjournment application to Assessor – whether plaintiff was denied procedural fairness by Local Court because of refusal to accede to adjournment application Legislation Cited: Civil Procedure Act 2005 (NSW), ss 14, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60 Crimes (Appeal and Review) Act 2001 (NSW), s 17 Local Court Act 2007 (NSW), ss 35, 39, 41 Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 (NSW), rr 14.14, 50.4, 50.5, 50.16 Cases Cited: Aon Risk Services Limited v Australian National University (2009) 239 CLR 175 House v The King (1936) 55 CLR 499 Stojanvoski v Parevski [2004] NSWSC 1144 Texts Cited: New South Wales Legislative Assembly, Hansard, 22 November 1990, p 10416 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Mr J Hungerford (Plaintiff) Ms S Cantor (Defendant) Representation: Counsel: Plaintiff appeared in person Mr A Djurdjevic for the defendant Solicitors: Gells Lawyers for the defendant File Number(s): 2019/265906 Publication restriction: Nil Decision under appeal Court or tribunal: Local Court Jurisdiction: Small Claims Division Citation: Unreported Date of Decision: 29 July 2019 Before: Assessor Connelly File Number(s): 2017/317871