Labaj v Lollo Plumbing P/L (in Liq)

COURT OF APPEAL
McMURDO P

No 7313 of 2004
JOHN LABAJ Appellant
and
LOLLO PLUMBING PTY LTD (in liquidation) First Respondent
and
HALL D R, President of the Industrial Court Second Respondent

BRISBANE
.DATE 10/09/2004

ORDER

THE PRESIDENT: This appeal was filed on 23 August 2004. The Deputy-Registrar (Appeals) referred the matter to me because he was concerned about the competency of the appeal. I arranged for the matter to be listed today for Mr Labaj to show cause why the appeal should not be struck out as incompetent.

Mr Labaj's original claim relates to unpaid wages and was a claim in the Industrial Commission. He appealed to the Industrial Court of Queensland under s 341(1) of the Industrial Relations Act 1999 (Qld) ("the Act"). He claims he has a right of appeal to this Court under s 340 of the Act. The decision sought to be appealed from is not one within
s 340 of the Act. Under s 349 of the Act a decision of the Industrial Court under s 341 is final.

Arguably, this Court has a right to nevertheless hear an appeal if there is want of jurisdiction although it may be that that is rather a matter to be dealt with by way of judicial review to a Judge of the trial division. Mr Labaj has in his notice of appeal alleged that President Hall exceeded jurisdiction in making the decisions or rulings under the provisions of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth). I have questioned him about this ground of appeal, he tells me that his argument is that President Hall exceeded jurisdiction in allowing an industrial advocate, Mr Nicholson, to appear for the first respondent in the matter at first instance contrary to the provisions of the Corporations Act and that this is the excess of jurisdiction.
Those grounds do not raise an excess of jurisdiction and do not in any way alter the position under s 349 of the Act, which makes the original decision sought to be appealed from final. It follows that the appeal is incompetent and must be struck out.

...

THE PRESIDENT: Yes. The order is the appeal is struck out as incompetent. There is no order as to costs.

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CaseChat Overview and Summary

In the Court of Appeal McMurdo P, the case of Labaj v Lollo Plumbing P/L (in Liq) involves an appeal by John Labaj against the decision made by the Industrial Court of Queensland. Labaj’s original claim was for unpaid wages and was initially heard in the Industrial Commission. He appealed to the Industrial Court under section 341(1) of the Industrial Relations Act 1999 (Qld) and subsequently sought to appeal to the Court of Appeal under section 340 of the same Act. The primary issue before the Court was whether the Court of Appeal had jurisdiction to hear the appeal from the decision of the Industrial Court, which is deemed final under section 349 of the Act.

The Court considered the grounds of appeal submitted by Labaj, which primarily argued that the President of the Industrial Court, Hall, had exceeded jurisdiction by allowing an industrial advocate to represent the first respondent. Labaj contended this was contrary to the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth). However, the Court found that these grounds did not constitute an excess of jurisdiction and did not affect the finality of the Industrial Court's decision under section 349 of the Act. Consequently, the Court determined that the appeal was incompetent and should be struck out.

The Court of Appeal McMurdo P concluded that the appeal was indeed incompetent and ordered that it be struck out. The Court did not make any order as to costs in relation to the appeal.

CaseChat Overview and Summary

Orders of the court

Background to the litigation

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Legal Principle Established