Charatsis v Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Limited

In *Charatsis v Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Limited*, the County Court of Victoria considered a dispute between the applicant, Mr Charatsis, and the respondent, Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Limited. The applicant sought to set aside a default judgment entered against him by the respondent.

The primary legal issue before the court was whether the applicant had established sufficient grounds to set aside the default judgment. This required the court to consider whether the applicant had a meritorious defence to the claim and whether he had provided a reasonable explanation for his failure to file a defence within the prescribed time.

Judge Brown found that the applicant had failed to demonstrate a meritorious defence. While the applicant alleged that he had not been properly served with the originating process, the court was not satisfied that this was the case, noting that the applicant had not provided any evidence to support this assertion. Furthermore, the court found that the applicant had not provided a satisfactory explanation for his delay in responding to the proceedings. Consequently, the court determined that it was not in the interests of justice to set aside the default judgment.

The court ordered that the application to set aside the default judgment be dismissed.