Conomy v Maden

The High Court of Australia, constituted by Justices Keane and Edelman, considered applications for special leave to appeal made by Mr Jerrod James Conomy. These applications concerned his convictions for stalking and breaching a violence restraining order, which had been affirmed by the Court of Appeal of Western Australia. In addition to determining the special leave applications, the Court also considered whether to make a vexatious proceedings order against Mr Conomy under s 77RN(2) of the Judiciary Act 1903 (Cth).

The legal issues before the Court were whether to grant Mr Conomy special leave to appeal from the decisions of the Western Australian Court of Appeal, and whether his history of litigation warranted the making of a vexatious proceedings order. The Court was required to assess whether Mr Conomy had advanced any grounds that justified a reconsideration of the earlier decisions, and whether his persistent pursuit of these matters constituted vexatious conduct within the meaning of the Judiciary Act.

The Court reasoned that Mr Conomy's applications for special leave to appeal were an attempt to re-agitate issues that had been finally determined by this Court on 12 October 2016, and that no new grounds had been advanced to justify a reconsideration. It found that his conduct in continuing to file applications and seek to reopen concluded matters was vexatious. The Court noted that Mr Conomy had a history of instituting and conducting vexatious proceedings in Australian courts, and that the current applications were further examples of this behaviour. Consequently, the Court concluded that its discretion to make an order under s 77RN(2) of the Judiciary Act had been enlivened.

The Court dismissed Mr Conomy's applications for special leave to appeal. Furthermore, it made an order prohibiting Mr Conomy from instituting any further proceedings in the High Court relating to the convictions that were the subject of the appeals. The Court also dismissed summonses filed by Mr Conomy seeking to amend his applications and seeking extensions of time, finding them to be part of his vexatious conduct.