New South Wales Crime Commission v SG

The New South Wales Crime Commission (the appellant) sought leave to appeal from a decision of the primary judge in the Supreme Court of New South Wales. The dispute concerned an application by the respondent, SG, for summary dismissal of proceedings initiated by the Commission, which SG alleged constituted an abuse of process. The primary judge had not yet determined SG's summary dismissal motion, having other motions before the court.

The central legal issue before the Court of Appeal was whether the primary judge erred in determining SG's summary dismissal application before addressing other motions that were also before the court. The appellant argued that it was open to SG to file an application for leave to appeal in order to preserve its rights once the other motions had been determined.

The Court of Appeal held that it was not open to SG to file an application for leave to appeal at that stage. The court reasoned that the primary judge had not yet made a final determination on the summary dismissal motion, and therefore, there was no appealable decision from which to seek leave. The court refused leave to appeal, without prejudice to SG's entitlement to re-agitate the summary dismissal motion after the disposition of the other motions before the primary judge.

The application for leave to appeal was dismissed, with the costs of the application to be the parties' costs of the Motion of 8 April 2016, when it is ultimately determined.