Ferreday & Layh

The applicant sought to review the Appeal Registrar's refusal to file a Notice of Appeal and an extension of time to do so. The dispute concerned the applicant's attempt to appeal a decision made by a trial judge, with the Appeal Registrar having previously refused to file the Notice of Appeal. The matter came before Strickland J in the Family Court of Australia.

The primary legal issues before the court were whether the Appeal Registrar had erred in refusing to file the Notice of Appeal, and whether an extension of time should be granted for the filing of that Notice. Crucially, the court was required to determine if there was any basis for permitting the filing of the Notice of Appeal, and if so, whether the proposed appeal itself had merit and identified appealable error on the part of the trial judge.

Strickland J found that there was no basis whatsoever for permitting the applicant to file the Notice of Appeal. His Honour reasoned that even if the Notice of Appeal were filed, it would inevitably be dismissed as it failed to identify any appealable error by the trial judge. Consequently, the court dismissed the application to review the Appeal Registrar's decision and the application for an extension of time to file the Notice of Appeal. The applicant was also put on notice that further baseless applications could lead to an application for a vexatious proceedings order.