Warren Ronald Wichman v Pepper Finance Corporation Limited

Warren Ronald Wichman (the applicant) sought a stay of execution of a writ of possession obtained by Pepper Finance Corporation Limited (the respondent) following a default judgment granted to the mortgagee. The applicant’s initial application to the registrar in the common law division to vacate the default judgment and stay execution was dismissed. Subsequently, a motion to set aside the registrar’s decision was also dismissed by a judge of the Supreme Court. The applicant then brought a further application for a stay of execution before the Court of Appeal.

The central legal issue before the Court of Appeal was whether there were arguable grounds to grant a stay of execution of the writ of possession, or if the matter raised a question of principle warranting appellate intervention. This required the court to consider the merits of the applicant's proposed appeal against the Supreme Court judge's dismissal of the motion to set aside the registrar's decision.

Meagher JA dismissed the application for a stay of execution, finding that there were no arguable grounds of appeal and no question of principle involved. The court applied the principles governing stays of execution, which generally require a strong case to be made out, particularly where a default judgment has been obtained and subsequent applications have been unsuccessful. The applicant failed to demonstrate any basis for interfering with the prior decisions.

Consequently, the application for a stay of execution of the writ of possession was dismissed, and the applicant was ordered to pay the respondent’s costs of that application.