Misthold Pty Ltd v NSW Historic Sites and Railway Heritage Company Pty Ltd

JUDGMENT

1. PAYNE JA: On 11 May 2022, I delivered my principal judgment in these proceedings: Misthold Pty Ltd v NSW Historic Sites and Railway Heritage Company Pty Ltd (No 2) [2022] NSWSC 561. The orders I made were as follows: "(1) Judgment for the plaintiff for possession of the whole of the land in Folio Identifier 11/1137569, being the land situate at 170 Wine Country Drive, North Rothbury. (2) Grant leave to issue a writ of possession to enforce order 1. (3) Order that the execution of the writ of possession be stayed until further order of Payne JA. (4) Direct that the parties take all reasonable steps to serve upon all of the persons and entities referred to in MFI-1 a copy of these orders and reasons for judgment by 4pm on 13 May 2022. (5) Direct that any person or entity referred to in MFI-1 seeking to be heard about the time the writ of possession should be stayed file any evidence and written submission by 8 June 2022. (6) Stand over the matter to 2pm on 15 June 2022 for making any orders relating to any issues raised by persons or entities who have filed evidence and submissions in accordance with order 5 of these orders. I direct that any person or entity seeking to be heard as to relief appear with a legal representative at 2pm on 15 June 2022. (7) Dismiss the claims for relief made by the Further Amended Statement of Cross-Claim dated 1 February 2022. (8) The defendant / cross-claimant pay the plaintiff / cross-defendant's costs."
2. As a result of order (3), the defendant, NSW Historic Sites and Railway Heritage Company Pty Ltd (Historic Sites) remained in possession of the land. In the almost three-month period following the making of the above orders, no steps were taken to vacate the land, including to remove any of the locomotives, carriages and rail equipment which had previously been brought onto the land by Historic Sites, or by other persons or entities with the permission of Historic Sites. I held three separate hearings in June and July 2022 to enable the owners of the various locomotives, carriages and railway equipment located on the land to be heard about when, and on what conditions, the stay of execution of the writ of possession should be lifted. The purpose of those hearings was to best facilitate the orderly removal of property situated on the land in a way that is fair to both the plaintiff, Misthold Pty Ltd (Misthold), and the owners of the movable property. The purpose of those hearings was not to determine the ownership of any property on the Misthold land. At these hearings none of the relevant entities sought to join the proceedings.