Fryer v Pritchard [2019] NSWSC 89

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Fryer v Pritchard [2019] NSWSC 89 Hearing dates: 12 February 2019 Date of orders: 12 February 2019 Decision date: 12 February 2019 Jurisdiction: Common Law Before: Kunc J Decision: Notices of motion stayed until further order Catchwords: CIVIL PROCEDURE — Court administration — Case management — Self-represented litigant files multiple notices of motion Legislation Cited: Civil Procedure Act 2005 (NSW) Uncollected Goods Act 1995 (NSW) Cases Cited: Pritchard v Fryer [2017] NSWSC 1752 Pritchard v Fryer (Unpublished, 6 June 2018, Pembroke J) Pritchard v Fryer; Pritchard v Hall [2018] NSWSC 1141 Category: Procedural and other rulings Parties: Gregory Robert Fryer (Plaintiff) Andrew Ronald Pritchard (Defendant) Representation: Counsel: P Sharrock (Plaintiff) A Pritchard (Defendant in person) File Number(s): 2018/282469 (Main proceedings)2018/124156; 2016/90273 (Other proceedings) Publication restriction: No

EX TEMPORE JUDGMENT (REVISED) 1. These reasons are being given in what I will call the "main proceedings", which is matter 2018/282469, but I will touch upon motions filed in other proceedings. 2. This judgment concerns yet another chapter in a long running dispute between Mr Pritchard (the defendant in the main proceedings but in practical terms the moving party in the underlying dispute) and Mr Fryer (the plaintiff in the main proceedings) in which Mr Pritchard has been trying to recover guitars or parts of guitars in the possession of Mr Fryer. There have been numerous proceedings in this and other courts in relation to this dispute. 3. I first became acquainted with these matters when I was called upon to resolve various costs applications on 23 July 2018 in several proceedings that had been before Pembroke J (Pritchard v Fryer, 6 June 2018, Pembroke J). In disposing of the applications on that day it became apparent to me that, in the interests of the just, quick and cheap resolution of the issues genuinely in dispute between the parties, it would be necessary to ensure that the pattern of multiple applications in multiple proceedings by Mr Pritchard would have to be stopped to enable the parties to concentrate on preparing for the determination of the real dispute between them. To that end I made orders which had the effect of permitting Mr Fryer to commence these proceedings under the Uncollected Goods Act 1995 (NSW): Pritchard v Fryer; Pritchard v Hall [2018] NSWSC 1141. These are the proceedings which, as far as the Court is concerned, will provide the vehicle for the determination of the real issues in dispute between the parties. 4. I have been case managing these proceedings to get them ready for a hearing before a judge of this Court. I have made it clear to the parties that I will not necessarily be the trial judge. That will be a matter to be determined in accordance with the ordinary listing processes of the Court. 5. Over the period of time that I have given Mr Pritchard to prepare his cross-claim and his evidence in the main proceedings - an extended period of time to accommodate various personal circumstances which Mr Pritchard has drawn to the Court's attention on earlier occasions - Mr Pritchard has filed four notices of motion. When I became aware of that I caused all of those motions to be relisted before me. 6. Mr P Sharrock of Counsel, who appears for Mr Fryer, has submitted that I ought to dismiss all of those motions with costs. I do not propose to do so. In my view the justice of the case will be better served if (with one exception) they are all stayed with costs reserved so that their ultimate outcome can be viewed in the context of the outcome of what I have referred to as the main proceedings. In fairness to Mr Pritchard, who is an unrepresented but nevertheless resourceful litigant, this course will leave open the possibility (in my current view a remote one) that something in one or more of these motions may need to be agitated in the lead up to, or as a result of, the determination of the main proceedings. 7. However, it is necessary that I say something briefly about each of the motions.