Roskott v Commonwealth Bank of Australia [2014] NSWCA 341

Court of Appeal Supreme Court New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: Roskott v Commonwealth Bank of Australia [2014] NSWCA 341 Hearing dates: 25 September 2014 Decision date: 25 September 2014 Before: Basten JA at [1]; Meagher JA at [16] Decision: (1) Dismiss the summons. (2) Order the applicants to pay the respondent's costs in this Court. [Note: The Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 provide (Rule 36.11) that unless the Court otherwise orders, a judgment or order is taken to be entered when it is recorded in the Court's computerised court record system. Setting aside and variation of judgments or orders is dealt with by Rules 36.15, 36.16, 36.17 and 36.18. Parties should in particular note the time limit of fourteen days in Rule 36.16.] Catchwords: PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE - application for adjournment by unrepresented litigants - application made via e-mail to Registry a day before hearing - response to email communication at short notice - whether adjournment to be refused when hearing listed and applicants' defence lacks merit - need to protect respondent from wasted costs - opportunity for absent party to apply to set aside or vary orders

PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE - extension of time to seek leave to appeal - whether extension of time should be granted - whether appeal had reasonable prospects of success

REAL PROPERTY - mortgage - default - plaintiff granted leave to apply for default judgment - defence that the plaintiff had accepted a bill of exchange for the sum of one dollar discharging the mortgage - whether defence without substance - whether defence struck out properly Legislation Cited: Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 (NSW), r 36.16 Cases Cited: Kyriakou v Long [2014] NSWCA 308 Rural Bank Ltd v Lloyd [2013] NSWSC 1214 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Jan Eduard Roskott (First Applicant) Adriana Maria Antonia Dirckx (Second Applicant) Commonwealth Bank of Australia (Respondent) Representation: Counsel: No appearances (Applicants) J M White/D Elliott (Respondent) Solicitors: Applicants self-represented Gadens Lawyers (Respondent) File Number(s): 2014/223013 Decision under appeal Jurisdiction: 9111 Citation: Commonwealth Bank of Australia v Roskott [2014] NSWSC 246 Date of Decision: 2014-03-14 00:00:00 Before: Davies J File Number(s): 2013/148708