Stanwell Park (R83095) Reserve Trust v Papadopoulos

The appeal concerned an application by the Stanwell Park (R83095) Reserve Trust to vacate the hearing of an appeal brought by Ms Papadopoulos. The appeal was before Leeming JA of the Court of Appeal of New South Wales.

The primary legal issue was whether the hearing date should be vacated due to the appellant's delay in filing and prosecuting the appeal, notwithstanding that the appellant had the benefit of a stay of execution and that the grounds of appeal were limited to questions of law. A further issue arose regarding the appropriateness of appointing counsel to appear as amicus curiae.

Leeming JA determined that the hearing date should be vacated. His Honour reasoned that while there had been delay by the appellant, this did not necessarily warrant the dismissal of the appeal, particularly given the limited nature of the grounds of appeal and the existence of a stay of execution. The court considered it appropriate to appoint counsel to act as amicus curiae to assist in the determination of the appeal, especially in light of the submissions filed by the Reserve Trust.

The court ordered that the hearing of the appeal be vacated, and referred the appeal to the Registrar for the appointment of a barrister to act as amicus curiae. Ms Papadopoulos was directed to file and serve her written submissions by 15 April 2019. The matter was listed before the Registrar for directions to allocate a new hearing date, with the possibility of vacating this directions hearing if a hearing date could be allocated without an oral hearing.