McCarthy v National Australia Bank Ltd

In the matter of *McCarthy v National Australia Bank Ltd*, the applicant, Warren McCarthy, sought an interim stay of a writ of possession. This application was made in the context of seeking leave to appeal a judge's refusal to set aside a default judgment previously entered in favour of National Australia Bank Ltd. The core of Mr. McCarthy's application was whether the evidence he proposed to rely upon was sufficiently supportive of the grounds of his intended defence to warrant setting aside the default judgment.

The primary legal issue before the court was whether to grant an interim stay of the default judgment and associated orders, and whether to grant leave to the applicant to serve a subpoena on the respondent bank. This was to facilitate the presentation of his application for leave to appeal in a timely manner, particularly in relation to the evidence he sought to obtain from the bank to support his proposed defence.

Basten JA granted an interim stay of the default judgment and orders until 9am on Monday, 16 March 2015. The court also granted leave to the applicant to issue and serve a subpoena on the respondent bank by 5pm on Monday, 2 March 2015, for the production of documents. This subpoena was to be returnable on 16 March 2015, with the bank afforded leave to raise any objections to the subpoena, which the court would consider on that date. The costs of the present motion were reserved to be costs in the motion.