Badcock v Ambrose

ROBERT JOHN BADCOCK v COLIN LOUIS AMBROSE No SAD 140 OF 2006

1. The application be dismissed.
2. The applicant pay the respondent's costs of the application. Note: Settlement and entry of orders is dealt with in Order 36 of the Federal Court Rules. IN THE FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

REASONS FOR JUDGMENT 1 On 1 September 2006, when this matter was last before the Court, I indicated to the applicant, Mr Badcock, that to the extent that his application purported to be one seeking an annulment of his bankruptcy, no grounds whatsoever had been stated in his application in support of it. An annulment order was the centrepiece of his claims for final relief. I gave him the opportunity to amend his application and to put on any further affidavit material relevant to it. I indicated that the matter would come back before me on 16 October 2006 and that I would, on that occasion, consider the application and material for the purposes of determining whether or not it has any reasonable prospects of success. If it did not, I indicated I would give summary judgment today. 2 Not only has Mr Badcock failed to appear today, (in circumstances which would justify my dismissing his application in any event under O 35A of the Federal Court Rules), he has failed to amend his application or to put on any further material in support of it. On the material before me, insofar as the relief sought relates to the named respondent, Mr Ambrose, the application clearly has no reasonable prospects of success. For that reason, I will order that the application be dismissed under s 31A of the Federal Court of Australia Act 1976 (Cth). 3 The application also seeks interim relief against some number of other individuals and legal persons, none of whom have been made party to this proceedings. Most of the orders seem to be in the nature of applications either for preliminary discovery or more prosaically, for subpoenas. The interim order he seeks against his trustee in bankruptcy - that he refrain from contacting the applicant or disseminating information about him - is simply an attempt to prevent the trustee from performing his statutory function. 4 I have no material before me that would justify the making of any of the other interim orders, even assuming the existence of appropriate causes of action or apprehended causes of action to which the information sought would be relevant. Accordingly, I will dismiss the application and order the applicant to pay the respondent's costs. I certify that the preceding four (4) numbered paragraphs are a true copy of the Reasons for Judgment herein of the Honourable Justice Finn.