Allen v CGI Holdings Pty Ltd (No.1)

DISTRICT COURT OF QUEENSLAND

CITATION: 

Allen v CGI Holdings Pty Ltd (No.1) [2021] QDC 238

PARTIES: 

REECE JUSTIN ALLEN  
(Plaintiff/Applicant)

v
CGI HOLDINGS PTY LTD ACN 156 152 359
(Defendant/Respondent)

FILE NO:

1465/21

DIVISION:

Civil

PROCEEDING:

Application

ORIGINATING COURT: 

Brisbane District Court

DELIVERED ON:

20 September 2021 (ex tempore)

DELIVERED AT:

Brisbane

HEARING DATE: 

20 September 2021

JUDGE:

Porter QC DCJ

ORDERS:

1.   Stay further steps to give effect to the enforcement warrant issued on 12 August 2021, to the extent it relates to the shares in CGI Kingaroy Pty Ltd and CGI Water Pty Ltd, until further order; and

2.   Grant leave to judgment creditor to bring the matter on before Judge Porter QC for further consideration.

CATCHWORDS:

PROCEDURE – JUDGMENTS AND ORDERS –WARRANTS OF SEIZURE AND SALE – where the plaintiff obtained default judgment against the defendant – where the judgment creditor has sought enforcement warrants to recover judgment debt with limited success – where the known property of the enforcement debtor is shares in a company – whether shares in a company could be seized and sold under an enforcement warrant – whether the express power to issue an enforcement warrant by charging order over shares means that shares are impliedly excluded from the scope of an enforcement warrant to seize and sell property  

CASES:

Lloyds & Scottish Finance Ltd v Modern Cars& Caravans (Kingston) Ltd [1966] 1 QB 764

LEGISATION:

Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 1999 (Qld), rr 828, 874-880, 982, Chapter 19, Part 4 and Part 8

COUNSEL:

R. Allen, solicitor, for the Plaintiff/Applicant

SOLICITORS:

Project Legal for the Plaintiff/Applicant

1. This is an unusual proceeding. It has come before me on referral from the Registrar under Rule 982 Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 1999 (Qld) (UCPR).  That Rule provides:

   982 Referral to judge or magistrate

   (1)If a question arises in a matter before a registrar that the registrar considers appropriate for the decision of a judge or a magistrate, the registrar may refer the matter to a judge or a magistrate.

   (2)If a party asks a registrar to refer a matter before the registrar to a judge or a magistrate, the registrar must refer the matter to a judge or a magistrate.

   (3)The judge or magistrate may then dispose of the matter or refer it back to the registrar with the directions the judge or magistrate considers appropriate.

2. It arose in these circumstances.  The judgment creditor is Mr Allen, a solicitor, who obtained judgment for a sum in excess of $400,000 against a company called CGI Holdings Pty Ltd some time ago by default.  The debt arises from legal costs and counsel’s fees incurred in litigation arising out of a Construction Industry adjudication.  As is the way with such matters, a great deal of legal fees can be incurred quickly, and in respect of this one, there was an application to stay the adjudication which ultimately resulted in a settlement of the dispute over the adjudication decision.   

3. The current judgment debtor became liable by…