Eshow v Zaia

The appeal concerned applications by the appellant, Eshow, for extensions of time to file notices of appeal against judgments made by McCallum J and Fagan J. These judgments had awarded damages to the respondent, Zaia, for defamation and found Eshow in contempt for breaching an injunction that prohibited further publication. The appeal court comprised Bell P, Macfarlan and White JJA.

The primary legal issues before the Court of Appeal were whether Eshow had an arguable basis for appealing the defamation and contempt findings, and consequently, whether extensions of time to file the notices of appeal should be granted. A related question arose regarding whether a sealed copy of the orders was a prerequisite for contempt proceedings.

The Court of Appeal refused the applications for extensions of time. Their Honours found that there was no arguable basis for the proposed appeals against the judgments of McCallum J and Fagan J. The Amended Notice of Appeal, having been filed out of time, was therefore dismissed. The Court ordered Eshow to pay Zaia's costs of the appeal proceedings.