Partington v Pacific Link Housing Ltd

The case of *Partington v Pacific Link Housing Ltd* concerned an application for judicial review of a decision made by a single judge of appeal in the Supreme Court of New South Wales. The applicant, Mr Partington, sought to challenge a decision that had originated from the Consumer, Trader and Tenancy Tribunal and subsequently been dismissed on appeal by the District Court. Pacific Link Housing Ltd was the respondent.

The primary legal issues before the Court of Appeal were whether Mr Partington had established grounds for judicial review, specifically concerning allegations of bias or error of principle in the prior judicial decision. Additionally, the court was required to determine the applicability of certain procedural rules, including the power to order security for costs in a proceeding in the nature of judicial review, and whether such an order would be appropriate in the circumstances.

The Court of Appeal reasoned that no appeal lay from the decision of the Consumer, Trader and Tenancy Tribunal or from the District Court's dismissal of an appeal from that tribunal. Consequently, the proceeding was properly characterised as one in the nature of judicial review. The court found that Mr Partington had not established bias or an error of principle sufficient to warrant judicial review. However, the court did find that Mr Partington's conduct constituted an abuse of process, and therefore, it was appropriate to order security for costs.

The Court of Appeal dismissed Mr Partington's motion filed on 29 April 2013 and ordered him to pay Pacific Link's costs for that motion. The court varied a previous order, directing Mr Partington to pay $10,000 into the court registry within 28 days, failing which his proceedings would be dismissed. Pacific Link's motion filed on 4 July 2013 was otherwise dismissed with no order as to costs.