Drive My Car Rentals Pty Ltd v Gabriel

Drive My Car Rentals Pty Ltd (the applicant) sought to set aside orders made by the Registrar that fixed a concurrent hearing of an application for leave to appeal and the appeal itself. The proceedings remained active in the Common Law Division of the Supreme Court of New South Wales. The applicant also sought a stay of the appeal proceedings.

The primary legal issue before Gleeson JA was whether the Registrar's orders for a concurrent hearing should be set aside. This involved considering the appropriate procedural approach when an application for leave to appeal and the substantive appeal are listed together, and whether such a course was prejudicial to the applicant. A secondary issue was whether a stay of the appeal proceedings was warranted.

Gleeson JA reasoned that the Registrar’s orders, while intended to expedite the matter, had been made without sufficient consideration of the applicant’s position and the potential for prejudice. The court determined that a concurrent hearing was appropriate in principle, but the Registrar’s orders had not adequately facilitated this. Consequently, the orders were set aside to allow for a more structured approach to a concurrent hearing. The application for a stay was refused, as the court found no sufficient grounds to halt the appeal process.

The court ordered that the Registrar's orders of 20 July 2020 be set aside. It directed a concurrent hearing of the summons for leave to appeal and the appeal, should leave be granted. The applicant's application for a stay of proceedings in the Court was refused. The matter was to be stood over before the Registrar on 12 October 2020 to fix a hearing date for the concurrent hearing. No order was made as to costs.