Bobos v Deputy Commissioner of Taxation

The applicants, Bobos, sought leave to appeal against a decision of the primary judge who refused to set aside a default judgment entered against them by the Deputy Commissioner of Taxation. The appeal was heard by Beazley P and Macfarlan JA in the Court of Appeal of New South Wales.

The central legal issue before the Court of Appeal was whether the primary judge erred in refusing to set aside the default judgment. This required the Court to consider whether the applicants had demonstrated sufficient grounds to justify setting aside the default judgment, particularly in circumstances where there was no apparent issue of principle involved in the refusal.

The Court of Appeal found that the applicants had not established any error on the part of the primary judge. Their reasoning focused on the lack of any arguable point of principle that would warrant granting leave to appeal. Consequently, the Court dismissed both the application for an extension of time for leave to appeal and the application for leave to appeal itself, ordering the applicants to pay the costs of the Deputy Commissioner of Taxation.