HIH Casualty & General Insurance Ltd & Ors v Maclaw No 651 Pty Ltd & Anor [1999] VSCA 217

Court of Appeal (Vic)|1999-12-06|Before: BROOKING, CHARLES and CHERNOV, JJ.A.

We have before us an application for leave to appeal under s.148 of the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 1998 from a determination of the Tribunal constituted by one of the Vice Presidents, His Honour Judge Davey. The determination was made on 23 June 1999 and was that the building work, the subject of the first-named respondent's claim, was within the definition of "domestic building work" in s.3 of the Domestic Building Contracts Act 1995. The building work was the construction of serviced apartments.

The three insurers who were respondents to the proceedings before the Tribunal have appealed and have applied for leave to appeal, and on 6 August 1999 the Court hearing applications directed that, subject to further order, the application for leave to appeal be heard and determined together with the appeal. We directed that the application for leave to appeal be argued first.

Two points have been taken about the competency of the appeal, leaving aside the requirement of leave to appeal. First it is said that the determination of the Tribunal is not an "order" within the meaning of s.148, except in so far as it deals with costs and refers the proceeding to a directions hearing, and, secondly, that the appeal is not on a question of law as required by the section.

We find it unnecessary to consider either of these objections to the competency of the appeal, for in our opinion the correctness of the decision of the Tribunal is not attended by sufficient doubt to warrant the grant of leave to appeal.

Accordingly, we dismiss both the application for leave to appeal and the appeal itself, and order the appellant to pay the first-named respondent's costs of the application and of the appeal, including the costs reserved on 6 August 1999.

Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 1998

Building Contracts Act 1995

Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 1998

Building Contracts Act 1995

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