Deputy Commissioner of Taxation v Green [2007] QDC 252

DISTRICT COURT OF QUEENSLAND CITATION: Deputy Commissioner of Taxation v Green [2007] QDC 252 PARTIES: DEPUTY COMMISSIONER OF TAXATION (Applicant) V ALAN JAMES GREEN (Respondent) FILE NO/S: 74 of 2006 DIVISION: Civil PROCEEDING: Application ORIGINATING COURT: District Court at Beenleigh DELIVERED ON: 30 July 2007 DELIVERED AT: Beenleigh HEARING DATE: 30 July 2007 JUDGE: Dearden DCJ ORDER: Application to set aside default judgment granted CATCHWORDS: APPLICATION TO SET ASIDE DEFAULT JUDGMENT – where the money sought by the Deputy Commissioner against the defendant had been paid prior to judgment and default being entered Uniform Civil Procedure Rules (1999) Qld s 290 COUNSEL: Ms L. Evans for the applicant No appearance for the respondent SOLICITORS: Crown Law for the applicant No appearance for the respondent HIS HONOUR: This is an application pursuant to section 290 of the Uniform Civil Procedure Rules (UCPR). 1 -- 1 of 3 -- The background, very briefly, is that the Deputy Commissioner of Taxation proceeded against the defendant and obtained judgment by default from the Deputy Registrar on 14th February, 2007. It now appears clear from the affidavit of Ms Jill Macaraounas, sworn 15 June, 2007, that as a result of what can politely be described as an accounting error in the office of the Deputy Commissioner, the money sought by way of proceedings in this Court by the Deputy Commissioner against the defendant, Alan James Green, had in fact been paid prior to judgment and default being entered. Appropriately, in my view, the Deputy Commissioner, who appears in these proceedings today represented by Ms Evans, has made an application to this Court and has sought to serve that application on the defendant who has not appeared, but proceeds anyway, and seeks to set aside the judgment. The Court, of course, has the power under section 290 of Uniform Civil Procedure Rules to set aside judgment on any basis that the Court considers appropriate quite clearly and properly having elucidated that there was an error and of course in this case, a significant error, which underpinned the basis for the judgment. It is appropriate that the Deputy Commissioner by this process appears before the Court and has the judgment set aside. 2 ORDER -- 2 of 3 -- Accordingly, I order as per draft, which I have initialled and placed with the papers, namely, "1. The judgment herein dated 14th of February, 2007, be set aside". ----- 3 ORDER -- 3 of 3 --