John Galliano S.A v Jan Pola Ricigliano

John Galliano S.A. (the applicant) sought to have a judgment entered against it in favour of Jan Pola Ricigliano (the respondent) set aside. The dispute arose from an application to set aside a default judgment obtained by the respondent against the applicant in the District Court of New South Wales. The applicant contended that it had not been properly served with the originating process.

The primary legal issue before the court was whether the service of the statement of claim and summons on the applicant, a foreign company, had been effected in accordance with the relevant rules of court and international conventions. Specifically, the court had to determine if the service complied with the requirements of the *Hague Convention on the Service Abroad of Judicial and Extrajudicial Documents in Civil or Commercial Matters* and the *Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 1999* (NSW).

The court considered the evidence regarding the attempted service and the applicant's domicile. It found that the applicant, a French company, had its principal place of business in France. The court determined that service on the applicant's Australian agent was not valid service under the Hague Convention, which requires service to be effected through the Central Authority of the country where the defendant is domiciled, unless the defendant has agreed to service by other means. As no such agreement was established, and service had not been effected through the French Central Authority, the court concluded that the service was invalid.

Consequently, the court ordered that the default judgment entered against John Galliano S.A. be set aside.