Huang v Attapallil (No.2) [2017] NSWSC 1382

Huang v Attapallil (No.2) [2017] NSWSC 1382

The proceedings were summarily dismissed because the plaintiff had no statutory right or special interest giving her standing to pursue the Legal Profession Uniform Law claims, the declarations sought were hypothetical and without utility, and the criminal conduct claims were doomed to fail because alleged offences such as perjury and perverting the course of justice are not appropriately determined by civil declarations and would produce no operative criminal or disciplinary consequence. The proposed Amended Summons did not cure those fundamental defects.

Jurisdiction
Australia
Judgment Date
10 November 2017
Procedural Posture
Common Law Proceedings Seeking Declarations and Orders Concerning Alleged Professional and Criminal Misconduct, With Defendants Seeking Summary Dismissal or Strike Out / Hearing of the Third Defendant's Notice of Motion, Joined in by the Other Defendants, and the Plaintiff's Application for Leave to File an Amended Summons
Outcome
Leave to file the Amended Summons was refused and the whole proceedings commenced by Summons dated 8 November 2016 were dismissed.
Legal Topics
['standing' 'declaratory Relief' 'summary Dismissal' 'abuse of Process' 'legal Profession Disciplinary Complaints' 'perjury' 'perverting the Course of Justice' 'satellite Litigation']
['administrative Law' 'civil Procedure' 'legal Profession' 'criminal Law'] ['standing' 'declaratory Relief' 'summary Dismissal' 'abuse of Process' 'legal Profession Disciplinary Complaints' 'perjury' 'perverting the Course of Justice' 'satellite Litigation']

Case Brief

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Procedural Posture

Common Law Proceedings Seeking Declarations and Orders Concerning Alleged Professional and Criminal Misconduct, With Defendants Seeking Summary Dismissal or Strike Out / Hearing of the Third Defendant's Notice of Motion, Joined in by the Other Defendants, and the Plaintiff's Application for Leave to File an Amended Summons

Legal Issues

  1. 1 ['Whether the plaintiff had standing as a private citizen to seek declarations and orders alleging breaches of the Legal Profession Uniform Law (NSW) and related professional obligations.' "Whether the plaintiff's claims for declarations concerning alleged criminal offences under the Crimes Act 1900 were maintainable in civil proceedings." 'Whether the Summons should be summarily dismissed or struck out as vexatious, oppressive or an abuse of process.' 'Whether leave should be granted to file the Amended Summons dated 1 December 2016.']

Ratio Decidendi

The proceedings were summarily dismissed because the plaintiff had no statutory right or special interest giving her standing to pursue the Legal Profession Uniform Law claims, the declarations sought were hypothetical and without utility, and the criminal conduct claims were doomed to fail because alleged offences such as perjury and perverting the course of justice are not appropriately determined by civil declarations and would produce no operative criminal or disciplinary consequence. The proposed Amended Summons did not cure those fundamental defects.

Court Disposition

Leave to file the Amended Summons was refused and the whole proceedings commenced by Summons dated 8 November 2016 were dismissed.

Orders

  • ['Leave is refused to the plaintiff to file an Amended Summons dated 1 December 2016.' 'Order that the whole of the proceedings as commenced by Summons dated 8 November 2016 be dismissed.' "Order the plaintiff to pay the 3rd defendant's costs." 'Reserve to the 3rd defendant the right, exercisable within 14 days, to...