The Registrar Court of Appeal v Pelechowski

The Registrar of the Court of Appeal sought to strike out an appeal by Mr. Pelechowski against a decision of the Supreme Court of New South Wales. The core of the dispute concerned Mr. Pelechowski's contention that the Registrar had improperly refused to grant him leave to appeal against an earlier order of the Supreme Court.

The Court of Appeal was required to determine whether the Registrar had erred in refusing leave to appeal, and consequently, whether Mr. Pelechowski's appeal against that refusal should be permitted to proceed. This involved an examination of the Registrar's powers and the criteria for granting leave to appeal in such circumstances.

The Court reasoned that the Registrar's role in granting or refusing leave to appeal was a preliminary one, designed to filter out unmeritorious applications. It was held that the Registrar had correctly applied the relevant principles in refusing leave, finding that Mr. Pelechowski's proposed grounds of appeal lacked any arguable merit. The Court emphasised that the Registrar's decision was not to be lightly overturned and that a high threshold must be met for leave to be granted.

Consequently, the Court of Appeal dismissed Mr. Pelechowski's appeal against the Registrar's decision.