Roads and Maritime Services v Young [2018] NSWSC 1175

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Roads and Maritime Services v Young [2018] NSWSC 1175 Hearing dates: 24 July 2018 Decision date: 24 July 2018 Jurisdiction: Common Law Before: Button J Decision: (1) The order of the Deputy Registrar refusing to postpone the fee with regard to the filing of the notice of motion received by my associate on today's date is varied. (2) The filing fee in that regard is postponed. Catchwords: CIVIL LAW – claim for possession of houseboat by the plaintiff – Registrar refusal of postponement of notice of motion filing fee due to minimal prospects of success – exercise of judicial discretion to permit proceedings to continue expeditiously and effectively – refusal of postponement varied Legislation Cited: Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 (NSW), r 49 Category: Procedural and other rulings Parties: Roads and Maritime Service (Plaintiff) Maureen Mary Young (Defendant) Representation: Counsel: P Lane (Plaintiff) In Person (Defendant)

Solicitors: Crown Solicitors Office (Plaintiff) File Number(s): 2018/83808 Publication restriction: Nil.

Ex tempore Judgment – revised 1. This matter came before me urgently in the duty list after Ms Young, who has been involved in a very long-standing dispute about a houseboat and a houseboat site with the Roads and Maritime Services (RMS), was refused postponement of a fee in the sum of $411 with regard to a Notice of Motion she sought to file at the Registry today. 2. The Notice of Motion has been informally provided to my associate and to Ms Lane of counsel for RMS, who very kindly assisted the administration of justice by attending at short notice in order to assist my understanding. 3. As I understand it, the learned Deputy Registrar refused the postponement of the fee in the sum of $411 on the basis that it seemed to her that what Ms Young - who is, and has been for years, unrepresented - was seeking by way of her motion had minimal prospects of success. 4. There may be a nice theoretical question as to whether that determination is captured by Rule 49.19 of the Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 (NSW), but I think that in order to assist the orderly administration of justice, it is appropriate for me to deal with the matter now on the assumption that it is covered by that Rule. 5. It is also noteworthy that review of that refusal to postpone the fee itself, it seems, pursuant to rule 49.20(1), calls for a notice of motion. But I think to insist upon that would simply be, as it were, an exercise in diminishing returns. 6. In a nutshell, the Notice of Motion will seek to have the current proceedings between RMS and Ms Young stayed for a significant time until she has exhausted her rights in the High Court of Australia with regard to separate but closely related proceedings that are really about the same subject matter. 7. I accept what Ms Young has told me: that she is impecunious and, apart from the asset of the houseboat (which she believes to be worth a very great deal of money), she is not flush with funds. 8. I also know from direct experience, and also from my reading of decisions of other judges of this Court, that this litigation is extremely important to Ms Young and she feels, again rightly or wrongly, that she has been the subject of a serious injustice. 9. The other aspect is, of course, that the subject matter is her home and the current proceedings are with regard to possession and, as needs be, ejectment. 10. I do not think it can be said in any sense that the determination of the learned Deputy Registrar was wrong. But as a matter of, as it were, a fresh exercise of discretion; and as something of a judicial indulgence; and also to permit these extended proceedings to continue to unfold as expeditiously and effectively as one can hope, I think it is appropriate for me to vary the refusal of the postponement, pursuant to Rule 49.19, and to regard the earlier receipt today by my associate as a filing in court that will not call for payment of the filing fee. 11. Accordingly my order is: (1) The order of the Deputy Registrar refusing to postpone the fee with regard to the filing of the notice of motion received by my associate on today's date is varied. (2) The filing fee in that regard is postponed.