Judgement before Trial

Clearly not all cases should proceed towards a trial. Where the plaintiff’s case is particularly strong and the defendant doesn’t have an argument the case should potentially be determined by way of “summary judgement”. Alternatively, in other matters a defendant may wish to bring an application for dismissal because the plaintiff has breached various court orders and is not proceeding with due “dispatch”.

The Principal Solicitor at our law firm has appeared for both plaintiffs and defendants, during the course of commercial litigation, with respect to applications for summary judgement, dismissal, default judgement, discontinuance and applications for a stay of proceedings. Let us help you consider the options for obtaining judgement before trial.

Litigant is committed to making appropriate applications for early determination whether facts and circumstances of the matter so permit. With more than 10 years’ worth of experience helping litigants in Sydney with applications to obtain judgements before hearing we should be in a position to advise you on how to proceed.

Let us help you: -

  • discontinue proceedings that you no longer wish to maintain provided there are grounds for it [see: UCPR 12.1]
  • seek dismissal of matters that involve a “lack of progress” as in UCPR 12.7
  • if you are a plaintiff take advantage of the summary judgement procedure in UCPR 13.1 i.e. this normally applies where there is no “triable issue”
  • seek a dismissal in matters where the other party has failed to comply with directions given by the court see for instance section 61 (3) of the Civil Procedure Act
  • apply for a dismissal of matters where the proceedings are frivolous, vexatious, do not disclose a reasonable course of action or are otherwise an abuse of process of the court [see: UCPR 13.4]
  • apply for default judgement in the event that a defence is not filed or alternatively help you set aside a default judgement where there are proper grounds for doing so
  • apply for a stay of proceedings to prevent an abuse or misuse of a court’s process [see: section 67 of the Civil Procedure Act]

* This content does not purport to give legal advice. Readers must obtain their own legal advice, that applies to the particular circumstances of their case, before taking any action at all.