Hastwell v Federal Court of Australia and The Judges Thereof & Anor

The High Court of Australia considered an application by Mr Hastwell for constitutional or other writs against the Federal Court of Australia and its judges, and the second defendant, Kott Gunning. Mr Hastwell sought to relitigate issues that had been determined in interlocutory proceedings in the Federal Court, including an application for a stay of his primary proceeding and an application for leave to appeal from that stay order. The primary proceeding in the Federal Court concerned Mr Hastwell's claims for damages for alleged unlawful bullying, harassment, and discrimination during his employment with Kott Gunning.

The central legal issues before the High Court were whether Mr Hastwell's application disclosed an arguable basis for the relief sought, specifically writs of certiorari and declarations, and whether the Court should grant an extension of time for such an application. The Court was required to determine if the application constituted an abuse of process, given that Mr Hastwell had already pursued and exhausted the available appeal avenues in the Federal Court. The Court also considered whether any alleged errors by the Federal Court were jurisdictional errors or errors of law on the face of the record, which would be necessary for the grant of certiorari.

The High Court dismissed Mr Hastwell's application, finding that it had no arguable basis. The Court reasoned that Mr Hastwell's application was an attempt to relitigate issues for which the appeal process had concluded, and that it bore the hallmarks of an abuse of process. The Court noted that Mr Hastwell had failed to demonstrate any jurisdictional error or error of law on the face of the record in the decisions of the Federal Court. Furthermore, the Court found that the circumstances were not sufficiently exceptional to justify the substantial extension of time required for his application, particularly as a significant portion of the delay occurred while Mr Hastwell pursued a separate application for leave to appeal.

Consequently, the High Court ordered the dismissal of Mr Hastwell's application for constitutional or other writs pursuant to rule 25.09.1 of the High Court Rules 2004 (Cth). Mr Hastwell was also ordered to pay the costs of the second defendant, Kott Gunning.