Golden v V'landys

The applicants, Golden and others, sought leave to appeal to the Court of Appeal of New South Wales against a decision of a single judge that struck out their statement of claim and dismissed their proceedings. The respondents were V'landys and others. The dispute concerned claims brought by the applicants, which the primary judge found were largely an attempt to relitigate issues that had already been determined in previous proceedings. The remaining claims were also found to be out of time and lacking any practical utility.

The Court of Appeal was required to determine whether the primary judge erred in striking out the statement of claim and dismissing the proceedings. This involved considering whether the applicants' claims for judicial review were indeed an attempt to relitigate concluded matters, and whether any remaining claims were time-barred and without utility, thereby justifying their dismissal.

The Court of Appeal, comprising Basten, Macfarlan and Meagher JJA, dismissed the summons seeking leave to appeal. Their Honours were satisfied that the primary judge had correctly identified that the bulk of the claims were an attempt to relitigate issues already determined by the courts. Furthermore, any residual claims were found to be out of time and lacked any discernible utility, meaning there was no proper basis for the proceedings to continue.

The summons seeking leave to appeal was dismissed with costs.