Douglas v NSW Land and Housing Corporation & Anor

[2008] NSWCA 315

NSW Court of Appeal

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Interrogate

Catchwords

1. Practice and Procedure
2. › Dismissal of proceedings
3. › No reasonable cause of action disclosed
4. › Proper basis for dismissal
5. › Whether court should dismiss for failure to disclose cause of action rather than determine merits of issues not raised by moving party
6. › Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 (NSW), r 13.4(1)
1. Practice and Procedure
2. › Procedural fairness
3. › Unrepresented litigants
4. › Court determining issues not tendered by party
5. › Whether determination of grounds not raised by unrepresented litigant denies procedural fairness
6. › Whether findings may create estoppel barriers to properly drafted proceedings
1. Practice and Procedure
2. › Unrepresented litigants
3. › Pro bono referral
4. › Power of court to refer litigant to Pro Bono Panel
5. › Whether failure to consider referral is a ground of challenge
6. › Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 (NSW), r 7.36
1. Consumer, Trader and Tenancy Tribunal
2. › Appeals and judicial review
3. › Appeal on question of law
4. › Judicial review for denial of procedural fairness
5. › Distinction between appeal under s 67 and review under s 65
6. › Consumer, Trader and Tenancy Tribunal Act 2001 (NSW), ss 65, 67

Quick Take

Where a summons filed by an unrepresented litigant does not disclose any reasonable cause of action, the court should dismiss under r 13.4(1) UCPR rather than embark on a merits determination of issues the litigant has not raised. A court that determines substantive issues not tendered by the moving party, hearing only the opposing party's submissions on those issues, denies the moving party procedural fairness and creates an appellable error. The pro bono referral power under UCPR r 7.36 should be kept in mind for unrepresented litigants, though failure to exercise it is not a ground of challenge.