Younan v Queensland Building Services Authority

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DISTRICT COURT OF QUEENSLAND

CITATION:

Younan v Queensland Building Services Authority [2010] QDC 158

PARTIES:

ANTHONY YOUNAN

Appellant

AND

QUEENSLAND BUILDING SERVICES AUTHORITY

Respondent

FILE NO/S:

Appeal 1464/09

DIVISION:

PROCEEDING:

Appeal

ORIGINATING COURT:

District Court, Brisbane

DELIVERED ON:

22 April 2010

DELIVERED AT:

Brisbane

HEARING DATE:

9 March 2010

JUDGE:

McGill DCJ

ORDER:

Leave to appeal; appeal allowed; decision of the Commercial and Consumer Tribunal annulled; case remitted to the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal for rehearing in accordance with these reasons.

CATCHWORDS:

APPEAL AND NEW TRIAL – Error of Law – failure of tribunal to apply correct statutory test – remitted for rehearing

Queensland Building Services Authority Act 1991 s 56AD(8)

Ace Property Holdings Pty Ltd v Australian Postal Corporation [2010] QCA 55 – cited.
Alcan (NT) Alumina Pty Ltd v Commissioner of Territory Revenue (2009) 239 CLR 27 – applied.
Australian Finance Direct Ltd v Director of Consumer Affairs (2007) 82 ALJR 202 – applied.
Century Metals and Mining NL v Yeomans (1989) 40 FCR 564 – cited.
Friend v Brooker (2009) 239 CLR 129 – cited.
Hegarty v Queensland Ambulance Service [2007] QCA 366 – cited.
N v State of Queensland [2004] QSC 290 – cited.
NF v State of Queensland [2005] QCA 110 – cited.
Randel v Brisbane City Council [1984] 2 Qd R 276 – cited.
Rich v State of Queensland [2001] QCA 295 – cited.
Roads and Traffic Authority of NSW v Dederer [2007] QCA 42 – cited.
Royal North Shore Hospital v Henderson (1986) 7 NSWLR 283 – cited.

COUNSEL:

R.M. Derrington SC and L.D. Bowden for the appellant

N. Andreatidis for the respondent

SOLICITORS:

Nicholas Radich for the appellant

The respondent was not represented

  1. This is an application for leave to appeal from a decision of the Commercial and Consumer Tribunal dated 1 May 2009. The appellant was a director of a company, Cavalier Homes (Gold Coast) Pty Ltd (“the company”), which was ordered to be wound up and to which liquidators were appointed on 25 June 2007. As a result, pursuant s 56AC of the Queensland Building Services Authority Act 1991 (“the Act”), the appellant became an excluded individual.[1] The appellant applied to the Queensland Building Services Authority under s 56AD of the Act to be categorised as a permitted individual, which application if successful would have meant that he was no longer to be treated as an excluded individual for the purposes of the Act. That application was refused by the authority. Subsequently, the appellant applied to the Tribunal to review that decision of the authority, but by the decision under appeal the Tribunal confirmed the decision of the authority.

    [1]That would lead to his being unable to hold a licence under the Act, nor could any company of which he was a director, secretary or influential person hold such a licence: s 56AF, s 56AG.

  1. Leave is required to appeal under s 100 of the Commercial and Consumer Tribunal Act 2003, and the appeal can be only on error…

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Details
Case
[2010] QDC 158
Decision Date

CaseChat Overview and Summary

Younan appealed against a decision of the Commercial and Consumer Tribunal, which had found that the Queensland Building Services Authority had breached its statutory obligations by refusing to issue a certificate of final inspection. The appeal was heard by the Queensland Court of Appeal. The primary issue for determination was whether the tribunal had correctly applied the statutory test in determining whether the authority had a reasonable excuse for not issuing the certificate.

The court found that the tribunal had failed to apply the correct statutory test, and thus had made an error of law. The correct test required the tribunal to consider whether the authority had a reasonable excuse for not issuing the certificate, and whether that excuse was based on reasonable grounds. The tribunal had instead considered whether the authority had acted in good faith, which was not the correct test. The court held that this was a significant error that required the appeal to be allowed, and the decision of the tribunal to be annulled. The matter was remitted to the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal for rehearing in accordance with the court’s reasons.

The court further held that the evidence did not support the tribunal’s finding that the authority had a reasonable excuse for not issuing the certificate. The authority had failed to provide any evidence to support its position, and had instead relied on vague and general assertions. The court found that the authority’s conduct had been unreasonable, and that it had acted in breach of its statutory obligations. The appeal was therefore allowed, and the decision of the tribunal annulled. The matter was remitted to the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal for rehearing in accordance with the court’s reasons.

Orders

Orders of the court

Leave to appeal; appeal allowed; decision of the Commercial and Consumer Tribunal annulled; case remitted to the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal for rehearing in accordance with these reasons.

Background

Background to the litigation

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Evidence

Evidence Before The Court

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Decision

Reasons for decision

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Ratio Decidendi

Legal Principle Established

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