Ardestani v Doss

In *Ardestani v Doss*, the appellants sought to appeal a decision, but faced dismissal for want of prosecution due to repeated non-compliance with court directions to serve their submissions. The matter came before McCallum JA in the Court of Appeal of New South Wales.

The central legal issue before the Court was whether the appeal should be dismissed for want of prosecution, given the appellants' persistent failure to comply with court orders requiring the filing and service of their submissions. This involved considering the court's power to dismiss proceedings for non-compliance with directions and the principles governing the exercise of that power.

McCallum JA noted the appellants' prior failure to comply with directions and their further failure to serve submissions by the stipulated date. The Court acknowledged that while dismissal for want of prosecution is a serious step, it is available where parties fail to prosecute their appeals with due diligence. In this instance, the repeated non-compliance demonstrated a lack of diligence.

Consequently, McCallum JA directed the appellants to file and serve their submissions by close of business on 22 February 2019, and stood the proceedings over to 25 February 2019. The appellants were also ordered to pay the respondents’ costs of the hearing, to be assessed forthwith.