El-Hanania v Vella

In this matter before Judge Manousaridis, Mr El-Hanania sought to invoke the "slip rule" to correct orders previously made by the Court of Appeal. The underlying dispute concerned a judgment of $212,765.37 entered in the District Court of New South Wales. Mr El-Hanania had applied to the Court of Appeal for an extension of time to file a summons seeking to set aside this judgment on judicial review grounds, and also sought leave to appeal.

The primary legal issues before Judge Manousaridis were whether the "slip rule" was available to insert an order under section 41(6A) of the *Bankruptcy Act 1966* (Cth) extending time for compliance with a bankruptcy notice, and whether such an extension could be granted after the time for compliance, even as previously extended, had expired. The court also considered whether, in the exercise of its discretion, it should decline to make such an order or apply the slip rule.

Judge Manousaridis reasoned that Mr El-Hanania had not demonstrated an ability to satisfy the conditions imposed by the Court of Appeal for extending the time to seek judicial review of the judgment. These conditions included paying the judgment sum into court and providing security for costs by 31 July 2019. The judge inferred from Mr El-Hanania's silence on these matters that he would be unable to meet them, which weighed heavily against exercising discretion to extend time for compliance with the bankruptcy notice. The court noted that Mr El-Hanania criticised Mr Vella's opposition to the application for an extension of time.

The application was dismissed.