Hansen v Slattery Transport (NSW) Pty Ltd

In *Hansen v Slattery Transport (NSW) Pty Ltd*, the appellant, Hansen, appealed to the Court of Appeal of New South Wales against a decision concerning the competency of the appeal. The core of the dispute revolved around whether the appeal involved an amount at issue of less than $100,000, which would ordinarily render it incompetent without leave.

The primary legal issue before the Court of Appeal was whether the claims of both parties should be aggregated to determine the total amount in dispute for the purposes of assessing the competency of the appeal. Specifically, the court had to consider whether a greater amount than $100,000 was a realistic possible outcome, thereby conferring jurisdiction on the Court of Appeal.

Basten JA, sitting alone, considered the nature of the claims and the potential outcomes. His Honour determined that the correct approach was to assess the amount in dispute by considering the claims made by each party. In this instance, the court found that the amount in dispute did not exceed $100,000, and therefore the appeal was competent.

Consequently, the notice of motion filed on 24 June 2011, which sought to challenge the competency of the appeal, was dismissed. The costs associated with this motion were ordered to be costs in the main appeal.