Collier v Tesoriero

Collier brought an application for judicial review in the Federal Circuit Court of Australia against Tesoriero, the Registrar of the court. Collier sought judicial review of the Registrar’s decision to refuse to accept for filing an originating application and supporting affidavit for the reasons that the proceedings appeared to duplicate an existing proceeding. Collier’s application was subsequently transferred to the Federal Court of Australia.
The central legal issue was whether the Registrar’s decision to refuse to accept for filing the originating application and supporting affidavit was legally sound. Collier argued that the Registrar had erred in finding that the proceedings were duplicative. Tesoriero contended that the proceedings were duplicative and that the Registrar’s decision should be upheld.
The court found that the Registrar’s decision to refuse to accept for filing the originating application and supporting affidavit was legally unsound. The court found that there was no duplication of proceedings and that the Registrar’s decision was therefore erroneous. The court accepted that the proceedings were not duplicative and that there was no legal basis for refusing to accept the originating application and supporting affidavit for filing. Accordingly, the court allowed Collier’s application for judicial review and set aside the Registrar’s decision.
The court ordered that Collier’s application for judicial review be allowed, the Registrar’s decision to refuse to accept for filing the originating application and supporting affidavit be set aside, the originating application dated 9 August 2017 and the supporting affidavit of the applicant sworn 9 August 2017 be accepted for filing and transferred to the Federal Circuit Court of Australia, and that there be no order as to the costs of and incidental to this application.