Kalokerinos v HIA Insurance Services Pty Ltd

The appeal before Santow and Bryson JJA in the Court of Appeal concerned a dispute that originated in the Consumer Trader and Tenancy Tribunal (CTTT). The appellant, Kalokerinos, sought to appeal a decision of the CTTT to the Common Law Division, and subsequently, a further appeal was lodged with the Court of Appeal. The core of the dispute revolved around whether the CTTT's decision and the subsequent proceedings involved questions of law that permitted further appeal.

The primary legal issue before the Court of Appeal was whether the grounds of appeal raised by Kalokerinos constituted "a question with respect to a matter of law" as contemplated by section 67 of the CTTT Act. This involved determining whether the CTTT's actions, particularly its acceptance of the builder's repudiation of the building contract, could be construed as the enforcement of the building contract under the Home Building Act. The court also had to consider the established case law regarding the criteria for an appeal on a question of law.

The Court of Appeal reasoned that many of the purported grounds of appeal did not meet the threshold of a question of law. It clarified that while express advertence to a specific matter of law is not always a prerequisite for an appeal on a question of law, the substance of the ground must genuinely engage with a legal principle or error. The court found that the acceptance of a repudiation by a builder did not, in itself, constitute the enforcement of a building contract within the meaning of the Home Building Act. Consequently, the court concluded that the appeal was incompetent.

The Court of Appeal ordered that the appeal be struck out as incompetent.