Tribond Developments Pty Ltd & Ors v The Hon Trevor Griffin, Attorney-General of the State of South Australia & Ors [1997] FCA 106

Tribond Developments Pty Ltd & Ors v The Hon Trevor Griffin, Attorney-General of the State of South Australia & Ors [1997] FCA 106

In the highly unusual circumstance where the Attorney-General of South Australia is personally the respondent and likely known to all judges of the Supreme Court, it cannot be said that it is more appropriate in the interests of justice for the proceeding to be determined by that Court. Embarrassment or the appearance thereof arising from institutional and personal connections, though not amounting to actual bias, justifies refusal to transfer the matter from the Federal Court to the Supreme Court of South Australia.

Parties
First Applicant: TRIBOND DEVELOPMENTS PTY LTD (A.C.N. 008 124 445); Second Applicant: RODNEY ABEL; Third Applicant: ANNE SELINA ABEL; First Respondent: THE HON. TREVOR GRIFFIN, ATTORNEY-GENERAL OF THE STATE OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA; Second Respondent: THE STATE OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA; Third Respondent: NEWS CORPORATION LIMITED (now replaced by ADVERTISER NEWSPAPERS LIMITED)
Jurisdiction
Australia
Judgment Date
25 February 1997
Procedural Posture
Interlocutory Application (motions and Transfer) in Civil Proceeding / Interlocutory (prior to Substantive Hearing)
Outcome
Applications to amend granted; motions to set aside notices, strike out claim, and transfer to Supreme Court refused; costs of these applications to be costs in the proceeding.
Legal Topics
Cross Vesting of Jurisdiction, Transfer of Proceedings, Institutional Bias, Amendment of Pleadings
Civil Procedure Jurisdiction Cross Vesting of Jurisdiction Transfer of Proceedings Institutional Bias Amendment of Pleadings

Case Brief

Summary, issues, holding and outcome

More case intelligence is available

Unlock the full research layer for this judgment.

Full judgment text Downloadable case file Legal principles 3 Authorities cited 7 Party arguments 2 Amounts and remedies 2
Sign in to unlock

Parties

TRIBOND DEVELOPMENTS PTY LTD (A.C.N. 008 124 445)

First Applicant

RODNEY ABEL

Second Applicant

ANNE SELINA ABEL

Third Applicant

THE HON. TREVOR GRIFFIN, ATTORNEY-GENERAL OF THE STATE OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA

First Respondent

THE STATE OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA

Second Respondent

NEWS CORPORATION LIMITED (now replaced by ADVERTISER NEWSPAPERS LIMITED)

Third Respondent

Procedural Posture

Interlocutory Application (motions and Transfer) in Civil Proceeding / Interlocutory (prior to Substantive Hearing)

Legal Issues

  1. 1 Whether under subs 5(4)(b)(ii)(c) of the Jurisdiction of Courts (Cross-Vesting) Act 1987 (Cth) it is in the interests of justice to transfer the matter to the Supreme Court of South Australia in light of the personal involvement of the Attorney-General as respondent and potential for embarrassment to judges of that Court
  2. 2 Whether leave should be granted to amend the application to rely on the relevant provisions of the State and Commonwealth Cross-Vesting Acts in place of the originally cited provision
  3. 3 Whether the respondents' applications to set aside the proceedings and/or strike out portions of the claim should be granted

Ratio Decidendi

In the highly unusual circumstance where the Attorney-General of South Australia is personally the respondent and likely known to all judges of the Supreme Court, it cannot be said that it is more appropriate in the interests of justice for the proceeding to be determined by that Court. Embarrassment or the appearance thereof arising from institutional and personal connections, though not amounting to actual bias, justifies refusal to transfer the matter from the Federal Court to the Supreme Court of South Australia.

Court Disposition

Applications to amend granted; motions to set aside notices, strike out claim, and transfer to Supreme Court refused; costs of these applications to be costs in the proceeding.

Orders

  • Leave granted to amend application to refer to subs 4(1) of the Jurisdiction of Courts (Cross-Vesting) Act 1987 (SA) and subs 9(2) of the Jurisdiction of Courts (Cross-Vesting) Act 1987 (Cth)
  • First and second respondents' notice of motion filed 19 December 1996 dismissed