Jenna & Jenna

[2024] FedCFamC1F 253

FEDERAL CIRCUIT AND FAMILY COURT OF AUSTRALIA

(DIVISION 1)

Jenna & Jenna [2024] FedCFamC1F 253

File number:	SYC 5611 of 2020
Judgment of:	HARPER J
Date of judgment:	17 April 2024
Catchwords:	FAMILY LAW – PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE – EX TEMPORE – Application in a proceeding rejected for filing on the basis of being incompetent – Where the respondent has attempted to file an assortment of documents by email with Registry and or chambers on no less than 14 occasions and sought for those documents to be supressed entirely from the other parties – Respondent ordered to seek leave of the Court prior to filing any further interlocutory applications – Where all copies of the documents sought to be filed are to be deleted from the physical and electronic Court file.
Division:	Division 1 First Instance
Number of paragraphs:	6
Date of hearing:	17 April 2024
Place:	Sydney
Solicitor for the Applicant:	Ms Tasso of Barkus Doolan and Winning
The Respondent:	Litigant in person
The Independent Children's Lawyer:	No appearance

ORDERS

SYC 5611 of 2020

FEDERAL CIRCUIT AND FAMILY COURT OF AUSTRALIA (DIVISION 1)

BETWEEN:

MS JENNA

Applicant

AND:

MR JENNA

Respondent

INDEPENDENT CHILDREN'S LAWYER

ORDER MADE BY:	HARPER J
DATE OF ORDER:	17 APRIL 2024

THE COURT ORDERS THAT:

1.Neither party may communicate with my chambers electronically unless leave is specifically given by an order of the Court.

2.After 17 April 2024, the Respondent Husband is restrained from filing any further interlocutory applications without first obtaining leave of the Court.

3.The email communication attaching a proposed Application in a Proceeding and affidavit in support received by my chambers on 10 April 2024 be deleted from the electronic Court file and that any hard copies of those document be destroyed. 

Note:   The form of the order is subject to the entry in the Court’s records.

Note: This copy of the Court’s Reasons for judgment may be subject to review to remedy minor typographical or grammatical errors (r 10.14(b) Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (Family Law) Rules 2021 (Cth)), or to record a variation to the order pursuant to r 10.13 Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (Family Law) Rules 2021 (Cth).

Section 121 of the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) makes it an offence, except in very limited circumstances, to publish proceedings that identify persons, associated persons, or witnesses involved in family law proceedings.

IT IS NOTED that publication of this judgment by this Court under the pseudonym Jenna & Jenna has been approved pursuant to s 121(9)(g) of the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth).

EX TEMPORE REASONS FOR JUDGMENT

HARPER J:

1. On 10 April 2024, there was received by my chambers, by email communication, sent initially to Registry for filing, a proposed Application in a Proceeding and affidavit in support sworn on 8 April 2024 from the respondent husband (“the husband”).

2. It is unnecessary to describe those documents in any detail except to point out that by the proposed orders, to the extent they could be comprehended, the husband purported to seek an order that an Amended Response and supporting affidavit, a Notice of Child Abuse, Family Violence or Risk and its supporting affidavit and a Financial Statement could be filed by him accompanied by orders for suppression.

3. According to the Court file, after the husband became self-represented on 7 October 2022, on approximately 14 occasions he has sought to communicate with Registry and or chambers and file assorted applications and affidavits seeking at the same time suppression orders.

4. In my view that is a totally unacceptable approach to litigation which has consumed an unnecessary amount of Court time and resources.

5. Furthermore, my chambers do not conduct litigation by email and I am satisfied that even on a cursory examination of the orders sought in the Application in a Proceeding that it is incompetent and I do not propose to permit it to be filed.

6. Furthermore, in light of the way the husband has conducted this litigation I consider it appropriate that in future he should be compelled to seek the leave of the Court to file any further applications of an interlocutory nature, noting that this matter is listed on 27 May 2024 in a Callover for the allocation of final hearing dates.

I certify that the preceding six (6) numbered paragraphs are a true copy of the Ex Tempore Reasons for Judgment of the Honourable Justice Harper delivered on 17 April 2024.

Associate:

Dated: 17 April 2024