Gunn v Steain

Gunn brought proceedings in the County Court against Stein in relation to a motor vehicle accident. The proceedings were defended by Stein, but Stein subsequently died. Stein's estate was substituted in as the defendant. Gunn then applied to the County Court to have Stein's estate dismissed from the proceedings on the basis that the application to substitute the estate had not been served on Gunn within the requisite time period. The County Court dismissed Gunn's application. Gunn appealed to the County Court Appeal Tribunal (CTTT). The Tribunal found that the application to substitute the estate had been served outside the requisite time period. However, the Tribunal held that Gunn's application to have the estate dismissed should be dismissed because Gunn had not brought the issue of the late service to the attention of the County Court before the estate was substituted in as the defendant. The Tribunal ordered that Gunn pay Stein's estate's costs of the appeal. Gunn sought leave to appeal the Tribunal's decision to the Supreme Court.
The legal issue before the Supreme Court was whether the Tribunal's decision to order Gunn to pay Stein's estate's costs of the appeal was correct. The Supreme Court held that the Tribunal's decision was correct. The Court found that Gunn had not brought the issue of the late service to the attention of the County Court before the estate was substituted in as the defendant. The Court found that Gunn had not discharged the onus of showing that the Tribunal's decision was wrong. The Court found that the Tribunal was entitled to order that Gunn pay Stein's estate's costs of the appeal. The Court dismissed Gunn's application for leave to appeal.