Yin v Do

In *Yin v Do*, the parties were the plaintiff, Ms Yin, and the defendant, Mr Do. The dispute concerned an application by the plaintiff to set aside a default judgment entered against the defendant. The matter came before Registrar Chuan Ng in the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia.

The primary legal issue before the Court was whether the plaintiff had established sufficient grounds to set aside the default judgment. This required the Court to consider the principles governing applications to set aside default judgments, including whether the plaintiff had a meritorious defence to the original claim and whether the plaintiff had provided a satisfactory explanation for the delay in filing a defence.

Registrar Ng applied the well-established principles for setting aside default judgments, which require a two-stage inquiry. First, the applicant must show a meritorious defence. Second, the applicant must provide a reasonable explanation for the failure to file a defence within the prescribed time. In this instance, the Registrar found that the plaintiff had failed to satisfy both limbs of the test. The plaintiff did not provide a sufficiently detailed or credible explanation for the significant delay in filing a defence, nor did the plaintiff demonstrate that they had a meritorious defence to the underlying claim.

Consequently, the Registrar dismissed the plaintiff's application to set aside the default judgment.