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NCAT Appeal Panel | 2014-04-09
Tenants were terminated for non-payment of rent following an uncontested hearing where the landlord's agent gave evidence and the Member recorded findings in hearing notes. The tenants sought leave to internally appeal under s 80(2)(b) but did not raise any question of law; therefore leave required. Clause 12 Schedule 4 requires showing the appellant 'may have suffered a substantial miscarriage of justice' because the decision was unfair, against the weight of evidence, or there is significant new evidence. The tenants relied on phone logs and asserted contact and willingness to pay. The Appeal Panel found the record disclosed arrears and necessary findings, the phone logs were not fresh or persuasive, and there was no denial of procedural fairness. Leave was refused, the appeal dismissed, and the stay of the original orders lifted.
1,764 case citations
Before: Horan J
Before: Peter Wertheim AM
Before: Needham J
Before: Leeming JA at [1]Ball JA at [2]Free JA at [52]
The Court of Appeal did not decide a full appeal on the merits. It decided that the applicants had not shown a sufficient basis for permission to appeal. The judge rejected the idea that courts can change people's legal rights simply to end a dispute, but explained that courts can grant injunctions against threatened legal wrongs and that both sides must exercise easement-related rights reasonably. In the setting of this long-running neighbour dispute, the Court considered the orders sufficiently connected to the practical coordination of access and services work, and not obviously unjust. The summons was dismissed with costs.
Before: Member Decision
Before: Porter C
Before: Gray C
Before: Porter C
Before: Mullins P, Bradley JA, North J
The applicant received an effective four-and-a-half-year prison sentence for repeated indecent treatment of three foster children in his care. He argued that the judge had not properly explained why one sentence was made cumulative and that the overall sentence was too high. The Court of Appeal accepted that the sentencing reasons were brief, but found that the sentencing judge had considered proportional punishment and relevant protective and deterrent purposes, against the background of submissions about accumulation. It also considered the repeated offending, the children’s vulnerability, the breach of trust, and the mitigating matters. The Court described the sentence as high but not manifestly excessive, and refused leave to appeal.
Before: Bradley J, Mullins P, Brown JA, Wilson J
The Court of Appeal upheld Meale’s murder conviction. It found that the jury had been given adequate directions on how it could consider his alleged lies and his conduct after the shooting. The trial judge clearly restricted use of that evidence to consciousness of guilt of murder, rather than a lesser offence, and explained why the jury might doubt that the alleged lie about the gun’s disposal showed consciousness of guilt. Even if leaving that fourth alleged lie with the jury was an error, the Court held it could not realistically have changed the jury’s reasoning.
Before: Mullins P, Bond JA, Kelly J
The Queensland Court of Appeal overturned an order requiring DGR Global to provide $3.46 million in security for costs. The respondents had to show more than a possibility that DGR Global might not be able to pay a future costs order. The Court found that they had not shown, on the objective evidence, reason to believe that DGR Global would be unable to pay when the costs became due. It also held that the respondents' long and unexplained delay, including their failure to meet a court deadline and later confirmation that security was not being pursued, weighed strongly against making the order.