Miller v Nationwide News Pty Ltd

Miller (the applicant) sought a stay of proceedings pending an application for special leave to appeal to the High Court of Australia against a decision of Nationwide News Pty Ltd (the respondent). The application for a stay was heard by McColl JA of the Court of Appeal of New South Wales.

The primary legal issue before McColl JA was whether the applicant had demonstrated a sufficient prospect of success in obtaining special leave to appeal to the High Court. This required an assessment of whether the applicant's proposed grounds of appeal raised a question of law that the High Court would consider significant enough to grant special leave.

McColl JA applied the well-established principles governing applications for a stay pending an application for special leave. These principles require the applicant to show that there are substantial prospects of the High Court granting special leave. In this instance, McColl JA found that the applicant had failed to demonstrate that the appeal raised any question of law that warranted the High Court’s attention. Consequently, the application for a stay was refused.

McColl JA ordered that the applicant pay the costs of the application.