Royal Guardian Management Pty Ltd v Nguyen

Royal Guardian Management Pty Ltd (appellant) sought a stay of enforcement of primary judgments and costs orders made by consent in the Supreme Court of New South Wales, pending the determination of its appeal. The appellant also sought to stay the hearing of the appeal until security for costs was provided. The respondent, Nguyen, opposed the application for a stay of enforcement and sought security for costs.

The court was required to determine whether to grant a stay of the primary judgments and costs orders, considering whether the appeal had reasonable prospects of success and whether refusal of the stay would render the appeal nugatory. Additionally, the court had to consider the application for security for costs under section 1335 of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth), specifically whether the proposed guarantee by a related entity constituted sufficient security, and if so, in what amount and form.

Basten JA considered the appellant's inability to satisfy the judgments and the potential for the appeal to be rendered futile if a stay was not granted. The court found that the appeal had arguable grounds, warranting a stay of enforcement. Regarding security for costs, the court noted that section 1335 of the Corporations Act does not require "special circumstances" and that the appellant's proposed guarantee lacked sufficient evidential support regarding the guarantor's financial capacity. Consequently, the court ordered a stay of enforcement of the consent orders, but conditioned the stay of the appeal hearing on the provision of security for costs in the amount of $100,000, either by bank guarantee or payment into court. The court also made orders regarding the costs of the respective motions.