Ritson v Ryan

[2023] QCATA 86

QUEENSLAND CIVIL AND
ADMINISTRATIVE TRIBUNAL

CITATION:

Ritson v Ryan  [2023] QCATA 86

PARTIES:

BRENDON RITSON

(applicant/appellant)

v

JONATHAN LAURENCE RYAN

(respondent)

APPLICATION NO/S:

APL317-21

ORIGINATING APPLICATION NO/S:

MCDO2024-16

MATTER TYPE:

Appeals

DELIVERED ON:

13 July 2023

HEARING DATE:

On the papers

HEARD AT:

Brisbane

DECISION OF:

Judicial Member D J McGill SC

ORDERS:

Application for leave to appeal dismissed. 

CATCHWORDS:

ADMINISTRATIVE LAW – ADMINISTRATIVE TRIBUNALS – QUEENSLAND CIVIL AND ADMINISTRATIVE TRIBUNAL – JURISDICTION – application for leave to appeal – applicant undischarged bankrupt – whether applicant competent to apply for leave to appeal – application dismissed

Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2009 (Qld) s 13(1), s 28(3)(b), s 43, s 100, s 126, s 156, s 164(1), s 219.

Attorney-General (NSW) v Gatsby (2018) 99 NSWLR 1
Cummings v Claremont Petroleum NL (1996) 185 CLR 124
Feiglin v Ainsworth (No 3) [2013] VSC 560
Li v Medical Board of Australia (No 1) [2013] QCAT 595
Meringnage v Interstate Enterprises Pty Ltd [2020] VSCA 30
Owen v Menzies [2013] 2 Qd R 327
Spedding Estates Pty Ltd v Cotterill [2022] QCATA 3

APPEARANCES & REPRESENTATION: This matter was heard and determined on the papers pursuant to s 32 of the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2009 (Qld)

REASONS FOR DECISION

1. This is an application for leave to appeal from an Adjudicator (as he then was) who on 21 October 2021 dismissed the appellant’s application in a minor civil dispute matter.  Because it was such a matter, the appellant requires leave to appeal.[1]  This was the fourth time that the appellant’s claim has been dismissed.  On each of the previous three occasions, the appellant was successful in having the decision overturned on appeal to the Appeal Tribunal.  The third successful appeal was Ritson v Ryan [2021] QCATA 100, where the history of the proceeding was set out.

   [1]The Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2009 (Qld) (“the QCAT Act”) s 142(3)(a)(i).

2. One complication which arose in relation to this proceeding, which was commenced by the filing of an Application for Leave to Appeal or Appeal on 17 November 2021, is that on 12 August 2021 (in fact prior to the decision in the third appeal) the appellant was made bankrupt.  The effect of this was to stay the proceeding under the Bankruptcy Act 1966 (Cth) s 60(2) and to vest his property in his trustee. However, the operation of the sequestration order was suspended by a Federal Court judge, to the extent necessary to permit the minor civil dispute matter to be prosecuted by him, on 24 September 2021.

3. The appellant has submitted that the effect of this suspension was that he is also entitled to pursue an appeal, and hence an application for leave to appeal, against the order dismissing his application in the minor civil dispute proceeding, by analogy with the proposition that a stay of a proceeding also stays any appeal in relation to the proceeding.[2]  What was decided in Feiglin was that the fact…