Donnelly v Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd

The applicant, Donnelly, sought leave to appeal against a decision of the Equity Division of the Supreme Court of New South Wales. The dispute concerned an interlocutory decision made during a trial, which had previously been the subject of an unsuccessful appeal and a subsequent unsuccessful application for judicial review. The present application was a second attempt at judicial review, which the primary judge had rejected.

The central legal issue before the Court of Appeal was whether the applicant had established grounds for leave to appeal against the rejection of the second application for judicial review. This required the court to consider whether the proceedings were properly constituted and whether the applicant had demonstrated an arguable case for intervention.

The Court of Appeal found that the applicant's proceedings were misconceived. Having regard to the prior unsuccessful appeals and applications for judicial review, the court determined that there was no proper basis to grant leave to appeal. The court therefore dismissed the application for leave to appeal. The applicant was ordered to pay the Bank's costs of the application on an indemnity basis. Further directions were given regarding submissions on an application for personal indemnity costs against the applicant's counsel.