Gilmore Finance Pty Ltd v Aesthete No 3 Pty Ltd

Gilmore Finance Pty Ltd (the applicant) sought judicial review of a decision of the District Court of New South Wales. The dispute arose from an appeal heard in the District Court concerning a costs assessment. The applicant asserted that the District Court had committed a jurisdictional error by failing to conduct the appeal "by way of rehearing" as required. The application for judicial review was brought out of time.

The primary legal issue before the Court of Appeal was whether the District Court had erred in its conduct of the appeal, specifically in relation to the standard of rehearing. A further issue was whether an extension of time should be granted for the applicant to bring its judicial review application, given it was filed out of time.

The Court of Appeal determined that the interests of justice did not favour granting an extension of time for the application to be heard. Consequently, the court refused the application to extend time and dismissed the amended summons and the notice of appeal. The applicant was ordered to pay the first respondent's costs of both the judicial review proceeding and the appeal proceeding.