Viavattene v Morton and Ors [2015] NSWSC 1893

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Viavattene v Morton and Ors [2015] NSWSC 1893 Hearing dates: 4 December 2015 Date of orders: 11 December 2015 Decision date: 11 December 2015 Jurisdiction: Common Law Before: Campbell J Decision: The appeal is dismissed as incompetent Catchwords: VEXATIOUS PROCEEDINGS – plaintiff required to show cause why his appeal should not be dismissed as incompetent – plaintiff seeking default judgment as no appearance or defence filed by defendants – no default judgment on appeals – failure of defendants to appear or file a defence does not make appeal competent

APPEAL – source – grounded in statute – apprehended violence order appeal – right of appeal under s 84 Crimes (Domestic and Personal Violence) Act 2007 – procedure for appeal under Crimes (Appeal and Review) Act 2001

PROCEDURE – filing of documents Legislation Cited: Crimes (Appeal and Review) Act 2001 (NSW); Crimes (Domestic and Personal Violence) Act 2007 (NSW); Local Court Act 2007 (NSW); Supreme Court Act 1970 (NSW); Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 (NSW); Vexatious Proceedings Act 2008 (NSW); Cases Cited: Application by Michael Bar-Mordecai [2015] NSWSC 1695; Beecham (Austrlia) Pty LTd v Roque Pty Ltd (1987) 11 NSWLR 1; Viavattene v Attorney General (NSW) [2015] NSWCA 44; Viavattene v Morton [2015] NSWSC 1693 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Peter Stephen Viavattene (Plaintiff); Bruce Morton (First Defendant); Evelyn Birch (Second Defendant); John Gilleat (Third Defendant); Representation: Counsel: Self-Representated (Plaintiff) No appearance (First, Second and Third Defendant)