Ejueyitsi v Thomas & Anor [2022] NSWDC 490

District Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Ejueyitsi v Thomas & Anor [2022] NSWDC 490 Hearing dates: 20 October 2022 Date of orders: 20 October 2022 Decision date: 20 October 2022 Jurisdiction: Civil Before: Abadee DCJ Decision: See paragraph 101 - 103 Catchwords: CIVIL PROCEDURE – appeal from the Small Claims Division of the Local Court – Local Court decision to strike out plaintiff's claim - application for summary dismissal of appeal proceeding – limited nature of an appeal from decision of the Small Claims Division – whether there was a failure to give reasons Legislation Cited: Civil Procedure Act 2005 (NSW) ss 56, 57, 58, 98 Local Court Act 2007 (NSW) ss 29, 35, 39 Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 (NSW) rr 13.4,14.28, 18.6 Cases Cited: Arnoldus-Lewis v Murphy [2008] NSWSC 1103 Eliezer v Sydney Water Corporation [2021] NSWCA 300 Eliezer v Sydney Water Corporation [2021] NSWDC 66 Habra v Reinke [2005] NSWSC 1090 Murphy v Arnoldus-Lewis [2009] NSWCA 142 Saqa v Bainivalu [2005] NSWSC 1091 Stojanovski v Parevski [2004] NSWSC 1194 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Ms J Thomas and Mr B Glover (applicants/defendants) Mr V Ejueyitsi (respondent/plaintiff) Representation: Mr E Ball (Counsel) for the applicants/defendants Mr V Ejueyitsi in person File Number(s): 2022/00228078 Publication restriction: Nil

EX TEMPORE REASONS FOR Judgment

Introduction 1. Before the Court is an application by the defendants for summary dismissal of the proceeding. 2. On 8 July 2022 the plaintiff, Mr Ejueyitsi, (who I may also refer to hereafter as the respondent on the application) filed a summons in which he sought to appeal a decision made by the Parramatta Local Court on 10 June 2022 and to have the matter remitted back to the Local Court. 3. The Local Court's decision was made in a proceeding in which the respondent commenced a suit against the first defendant, Ms Joy Thomas, an employee of the University of Western Sydney (UWS), in which he claimed the sum of $50,000. The original Statement of Claim in the Local Court (there were subsequent iterations) indicated that he had brought actions for breach of contract and negligence. Mr Barney Glover, the Vice Chancellor of UWS, was added as a second defendant. 4. On 4 May 2022, Ms Thomas and Mr Glover applied for the summary dismissal or, alternatively, for the striking out of the Amended Statement of Claim in the Local Court. On 10 June 2022, Magistrate Feather decided to strike it out and also ordered that the plaintiff pay the defendants' costs as agreed or assessed. 5. The respondent filed this summons without the assistance of a legal practitioner. Throughout this proceeding the respondent has remained unrepresented. 6. The defendants, (the applicants on the application) applied for summary dismissal by their notice of motion dated 12 August 2022.