Tao Zhang v Registrar, Local Court Burwood

[2016] NSWSC 1000

Supreme Court

New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation:

Tao Zhang v Registrar, Local Court Burwood [2016] NSWSC 1000

Hearing dates:

20 July 2016

Date of orders:

20 July 2016

Decision date:

20 July 2016

Jurisdiction:

Common Law

Before:

Bellew J

Decision:

(1)   The summons is dismissed.

 

(2)   The notice of motion is dismissed.

 (3)   I direct that a copy of these reasons be provided forthwith to the Magistrate at the Burwood Local Court who is allocated the hearing of the charge brought against the plaintiff.

Catchwords:

PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE – Application for injunction to restrain hearing before the Local Court – No evidence to support the making of such an order – Application dismissed

Category:

Principal judgment

Parties:

Tao Zhang - Plaintiff
Registrar, Local Court Burwood - Defendant

Representation:

Plaintiff in person

File Number(s):

2016/218016

Publication restriction:

Nil

Judgment – EX TEMPORE (REVISED)

1. By a summons filed on 19 July 2016, and by an accompanying notice of motion filed on the same date, the plaintiff Tao Zhang has sought an order in the following terms:

"A prohibition order to stop the Burwood Local Court to carry on the case listed on the 21 July 2016 pursuant to s. 69 of the New South Wales Supreme Court Act".

2. The application is supported by an affidavit of the plaintiff sworn on 19 July 2016. Although not precisely disclosed in the affidavit, it is evident that the plaintiff faces a charge of assault which is listed for hearing before the Burwood Local Court on 21 July.

3. The plaintiff's summons and notice of motion names two defendants, namely the Burwood Local Court as the first defendant, and the Director of Public Prosecutions for New South Wales as the second defendant. When I enquired of the plaintiff as to whether she had notified either of the named defendants of her application, she responded by saying:

"My friend has already informed these parties by e-mail".

4. Mr Thomson from the office of the New South Wales Crown Solicitor appeared before me this morning. He indicated that his office was notified of the application at 5pm yesterday and that he anticipated instructions to file a submitting appearance on behalf of the first defendant. Mr Thomson also explained that he had had some brief correspondence with Ms Langley from the office of the NSW Director of Public Prosecutions, but was unable to take that aspect of the matter any further. He explained that he was essentially before the Court to provide such assistance as he could. Given the view that I have reached regarding the merits of the application, it is not necessary for me to adjourn the matter to await an appearance on behalf of the second defendant, or to await the filing of a notice of appearance on behalf of the first defendant.

5. The basis of the application is set out in an annexure to the plaintiff's affidavit. Evidently, that annexure has been prepared by the plaintiff herself. She has appeared on her own behalf today, with the assistance of a qualified Mandarin interpreter.

6. The terms of the annexure to the plaintiff’s affidavit are unfortunately somewhat confusing. The document makes a number of allegations against judicial officers, the staff at the Burwood Local Court and solicitors from Legal Aid New South Wales who apparently previously acted for the plaintiff in the Local Court proceedings. The document also makes an allegation against an unnamed Magistrate at the Burwood Local Court of "collaborating with prosecutors", and contains a number of other unsubstantiated allegations of impropriety. Without intending any disrespect whatsoever to the plaintiff, some of those allegations are phrased in terms which are difficult to understand.

7. Nothing has been put before me today which would provide any proper basis for the order sought. To the extent that the annexure to the plaintiff’s affidavit complains that she has had a difficulty in obtaining evidentiary material to her defence of the Local Court proceedings, then that is a matter properly raised before the Magistrate at the commencement of the hearing listed on 21 July 2016.

8. For those reasons I make the following orders:

1. The summons is dismissed.

2. The notice of motion is dismissed.

3. I direct that a copy of these reasons be provided forthwith to the Magistrate at the Burwood Local Court who is allocated the hearing of the charge brought against the plaintiff.

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Decision last updated: 20 July 2016