[MG]

This is worth reading. A short decision by Judge Beattie dismissing an application for leave to appeal to High Court. Mrs Garven moved home and said she did not receive her copy of the District Court decision until after the expiry of the 21 day appeal period. Judge Beattie declined her application for leave to appeal to the High Court on the grounds that Mrs Garven was deemed to have received the DC decision within the 21 day period, under the appropriate High and District Court Rules. He also looked at relevant case law. An important factor in the Judge's decision was the fact that the notice of appeal, provided by Mrs Garven herself as she did not instruct a lawyer, contained no information at all identifying any alleged errors of law in the DC decision. The IPRCA states that appeals to the High Court and Court of Appeal must be on questions of law. These are usually quite sophisticated and, with one or two notable exceptions, lay people (non-lawyers) cannot realistically hope to identify these and express them in the precise legal form required by our legal system before it will entertain appeals at this level.  Garven.pdf (77.1K)
Number of downloads: 23

[Gloria Mitchell]

[quote name='MG' date='May 21 2007, 09:57 PM' post='44724']
This is worth reading. A short decision by Judge Beattie dismissing an application for leave to appeal to High Court. Mrs Garven moved home and said she did not receive her copy of the District Court decision until after the expiry of the 21 day appeal period. Judge Beattie declined her application for leave to appeal to the High Court on the grounds that Mrs Garven was deemed to have received the DC decision within the 21 day period, under the appropriate High and District Court Rules. He also looked at relevant case law. An important factor in the Judge's decision was the fact that the notice of appeal, provided by Mrs Garven herself as she did not instruct a lawyer, contained no information at all identifying any alleged errors of law in the DC decision. The IPRCA states that appeals to the High Court and Court of Appeal must be on questions of law. These are usually quite sophisticated and, with one or two notable exceptions, lay people (non-lawyers) cannot realistically hope to identify these and express them in the precise legal form required by our legal system before it will entertain appeals at this level.  Garven.pdf (77.1K)
Number of downloads: 23
[/quote

I thought it was notice of intention to appeal. I thought your appeal then got a space slotted for later....giving you time to work up your defence or attack.

162 (3) If the District Court refuses to grant leave, the High Court may grant
special leave to appeal.
I should hope she will be applying for special leave to appeal out of time.

However if she didn't have all her ducks lined up and really did not have any evidence presented to oppose the % she was assessed as....it wouldn't be worth pursuing. Judge B. really is a B.


Gloria.

[MG]

Mrs Garven can now apply to the High Court for special leave to appeal to the High Court but these are rarely given. IMHO, the most important lesson from this case is that people wanting to appeal DC decisions must identify precise errors of law in that decision, include them in the notice of appeal to the District Court and again in their submissions to the District Court.