Lowbeer v De Varda

Deputy District Registrar Ng of the District Court of Queensland heard the matter of *Lowbeer v De Varda*. The dispute concerned an application by the plaintiff, Ms. Lowbeer, to set aside a default judgment entered against her in favour of the defendant, Mr. De Varda. Ms. Lowbeer sought to have the default judgment, which had been entered on 15 March 2023, vacated on the grounds that she had not been properly served with the originating process.

The primary legal issue before the court was whether the plaintiff had been effectively served with the statement of claim and summons in accordance with the *Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 1999* (Qld). Specifically, the court had to determine if the method of service employed by the defendant, which involved leaving the documents at the plaintiff's residential address, constituted good service, or if there were sufficient grounds to set aside the default judgment due to defective service.

Deputy District Registrar Ng found that the evidence presented did not establish that the plaintiff had been served in accordance with the rules. The defendant had relied on rule 106 of the *Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 1999* (Qld), which permits service by leaving documents at a person's residential address if the person cannot be found. However, the Registrar was not satisfied that reasonable attempts had been made to serve the plaintiff personally, nor that the documents left at the address were likely to come to her attention. Consequently, the default judgment was set aside.