Lal v Patel; Patel v Lal (No 2)

Case [2012] NSWCA 226


Court of Appeal


Supreme Court


New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Lal v Patel; Patel v Lal (No 2) [2012] NSWCA 226
Hearing dates:On the papers
Decision date: 26 July 2012
Before: Macfarlan JA at [1]
Sackville AJA at [5]
Decision:

(1) Strike out the Notice of Appeal as incompetent.

(2) Order the appellants to pay the respondent's costs of the appeal.

(3) Dismiss the application for leave to appeal with costs.

[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: APPEAL - application for leave to appeal dismissed - no issue of principle
Category:Interlocutory applications
Parties: Patricia Lal (First Applicant)
Hasmukh Lal (Second Applicant)
Jaswanti Patel (Respondent)
Representation: Counsel:
Applicants in person
M Suliman (Solicitor) (Respondent)
Solicitors:
Applicants in person
M Suliman (Respondent)
File Number(s):CA 2012/49614; CA 2011/305566
 Decision under appeal 
Citation:
Patel v Lal [2011] NSWSC 603; Patel v Lal [2011] NSWSC 678
Before:
Biscoe AJ
File Number(s):
SC 2009/290378

Judgment

  1. MACFARLAN JA: The Court delivered judgment in this matter on 20 April 2012 ([2012] NSWCA 110). The Court indicated that, subject to resolution of a question concerning the constitution of the proceedings, it would order first that the Notice of Appeal be struck out as incompetent and the appellants pay the respondent's costs and secondly that the application for leave to appeal be dismissed with costs ([8]).

  1. Pursuant to leave given to the parties, the respondent has provided satisfactory evidence that H Lal & Associates Pty Ltd appeared in the proceedings at first instance before final orders were made. This satisfies the Court's concern not only in relation to the participation of that company in the proceedings but also that of The Lal Property Family Trust, as it appears the company was trustee of the Trust.

  1. In these circumstances the following orders should be made as foreshadowed in the judgment of 20 April 2012:

(1) Strike out the Notice of Appeal as incompetent.

(2) Order the appellants to pay the respondent's costs of the appeal.

(3) Dismiss the application for leave to appeal with costs.

  1. I add that, contrary to the terms upon which leave to lodge further submissions was granted, Mrs Lal lodged extensive further written submissions dealing with the merits of her application which was argued and, subject to one point, determined on 20 April 2012. I have disregarded these submissions to the extent that they travelled beyond the scope of leave granted. I have taken the same approach to an email from Mrs Lal dated 18 June 2012 which asserted that there were errors in the Court's judgment of 20 April 2012.

  1. SACKVILLE AJA: I agree with Macfarlan JA.

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Details
AGLC
Lal v Patel; Patel v Lal (No 2) [2012] NSWCA 226
Case
[2012] NSWCA 226
Decision Date

CaseChat Overview and Summary

The appeal concerned an application for leave to appeal from a decision of the Supreme Court of New South Wales. The parties involved were Lal and Patel, with the dispute arising from a prior judgment or order of the Supreme Court. The appeal was heard by Macfarlan JA and Sackville AJA in the Court of Appeal.

The primary legal issue before the Court of Appeal was whether the Notice of Appeal was competent. This question arose in circumstances where the application for leave to appeal was dismissed, suggesting that the appeal itself may have been fundamentally flawed or improperly initiated. The court was required to determine the validity of the appeal process undertaken by the appellants.

The Court of Appeal found that the Notice of Appeal was incompetent. While the specific reasons for this finding are not detailed in the provided text, the outcome indicates that the appellants failed to satisfy the necessary legal requirements for bringing an appeal. The court's decision to dismiss the application for leave to appeal with costs further underscores the lack of merit or procedural validity in the appellants' attempt to challenge the Supreme Court's decision.

Consequently, the Court of Appeal made orders striking out the Notice of Appeal as incompetent and ordering the appellants to pay the respondent's costs of the appeal. The application for leave to appeal was also dismissed with costs.

Orders

Orders of the court

(1) Strike out the Notice of Appeal as incompetent.

(2) Order the appellants to pay the respondent's costs of the appeal.

(3) Dismiss the application for leave to appeal with costs.

[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.]

Background

Background to the litigation

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Evidence

Evidence Before The Court

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Decision

Reasons for decision

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Ratio Decidendi

Legal Principle Established

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