Hamod v State of New South Wales (No 9) [2008] NSWSC 518

New South Wales Supreme Court

CITATION : Hamod v State of New South Wales (No 9) [2008] NSWSC 518

HEARING DATE(S) : 23 May 2008

JUDGMENT DATE : 23 May 2008

JUDGMENT OF : Harrison J

EX TEMPORE JUDGMENT DATE : 23 May 2008

DECISION : Plaintiffs' application to file a seventh amended statement of claim dismissed with costs

CATCHWORDS : CIVIL PROCEDURE – statement of claim – application for leave to file seventh amended statement of claim within one month of substantive hearing – plaintiffs unrepresented - proposed amended statement of claim 357 pages and 1119 paragraphs consisting of "material facts" – leave sought to plead a cause of action in defamation - events giving rise to proceedings occurred in mid 1990s – abuse of process – application dismissed with costs

CATEGORY : Procedural and other rulings

Anthony Hamod (First Plaintiff) PARTIES : Hamock Investments Pty Ltd (Second Plaintiff) State of New South Wales (First Defendant) UBS Australia Limited (Second Defendant)

FILE NUMBER(S) : SC 20147 of 2003

COUNSEL : M T Hutchings (First Defendant) M R Speakman SC (Second Defendant)

In person (First Plaintiff) SOLICITORS : I V Knight, Crown Solicitor (First Defendant) Allens Arthur Robinson (Second Defendant)

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF NEW SOUTH WALES COMMON LAW DIVISION

HARRISON J

23 May 2008

20147/2003 Anthony Hamod and Hamock Investments Pty Ltd v State of New South Wales and UBS Australia Limited (No 9)

JUDGMENT – EX TEMPORE 1 HIS HONOUR: This is an application by notice of motion filed by the plaintiffs on 15 May 2008. It is opposed. It is supported by an affidavit of Anthony Hamod sworn 14 May 2008 to which is exhibited the subject matter of the notice of motion. It is Mr Hamod's application for leave to amend his pleadings by filing a seventh amended statement of claim. I note in passing that these proceedings are due to commence on 2 June 2008 before me with an estimate of approximately eight weeks in two tranches. 2 To put this present application in context it may be convenient, and certainly instructive, to refer briefly to some history of the matter. The events upon which all versions of the statements of claim are based and upon which the plaintiffs have always relied, occurred or commenced about June 1994. On 19 June 2000 the plaintiffs commenced proceedings in the Federal Court of Australia. That file was transferred to this court on 11 June 2003. It is unnecessary to refer to the detail of any pleadings prior to the fifth amended statement of claim filed in this court on 24 June 2003.