Insurance Australia Limited t/as NRMA Insurance v Iuli

Insurance Australia Limited trading as NRMA Insurance (the appellant) appealed to the Court of Appeal of New South Wales against a decision of a Master. The dispute concerned whether the Master's decision was a final or interlocutory one, which determined the competency of the appeal to the Court of Appeal.

The Court of Appeal was required to determine whether an appeal from a Master's decision lay to the Court of Appeal or to a single judge. This depended on whether the Master's decision was considered final or interlocutory.

The Court reasoned that while a declaration itself is a final order, a decision by a Master refusing to make a declaration is interlocutory. Applying this principle, the Court found that the Master's decision in this instance was interlocutory. Consequently, the appeal to the Court of Appeal was incompetent.

The Court of Appeal ordered that the appeal to their court was incompetent and referred the appeal to a single judge for determination. The parties were to be heard regarding the costs of the proceeding in the Court of Appeal.