The applicant applied to the Court of Appeal for an extension of time within which to appeal a dismissal of his application for a statutory order of review ([2019] QSC 176). The application for a statutory order of review arose out of a mediation held under the provisions of the Farm Business Debt Mediation Act 2017 (Qld) following which the Bank relevant was granted an exemption certificate which permitted the Bank to continue to take enforcement action against the applicant. Before the learned primary Judge, the applicant relied upon various grounds of review. Each ground essentially stemmed from his principal grievance that the Bank’s loan (secured by way of a mortgage) was not recoverable unless the Bank could demonstrate the loan was made by drawing upon its own ‘assets’ through the provision of a so-called ‘liability account’. Because no ‘liability account’ had been disclosed by the Bank – so the argument went – it failed to make mandatory disclosure under s.21 of the Farm Business Debt Mediation Act 2017 (Qld) and thus had not participated in good faith, and the respondent erred in its decision to grant an exemption certificate. Those arguments were persisted with in the applicant’s application to the Court of Appeal.
The Court of Appeal, in a judgment of the Court, rejected the applicant’s contentions on the grounds that any so-called liability account (if it existed, which the Bank denied) was not relevant to the contractual relationship between the applicant and the Bank to which s.21 is directed. The Court also rejected the respondent’s other grounds of appeal in relation to the admission of fresh evidence in an application for a statutory order of review. In the result, the application for an extension of time was granted, and the appeal was dismissed with costs.
Mark Eade appeared unled for the successful respondent, instructed by Crown Law.
The judgment is published here.