By Stephanie Barclay and Natalie Sullivan -
Snapshot
- Solicitors need to have regard to jurisdictional issues beyond the commencement of proceedings.
- State appellate courts lack jurisdiction to hear appeals from their own state supreme courts when the appeal involves certain exercises of federal power.
- The NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal cannot exercise federal power and therefore cannot determine a matter if doing so will resolve a dispute between residents of different states.
Two High Court decisions highlight why it is important for solicitors to continue to consider the issue of jurisdiction, even after proceedings have been commenced.
Moving from state to federal for appeals
Solicitors should be aware there are some circumstances in which an appeal from a state supreme court decision needs to be made to the Full Federal Court of Australia instead of that state’s own appellate court.
In 2024, the Supreme Court of NSW summarily dismissed a claim against two solicitors for alleged professional negligence in Papoutsakis v Scanlon [2024] NSWSC 562. In doing so, the Supreme Court held the plaintiff was an undischarged bankrupt and therefore had no standing to commence the proceedings because any cause of action had vested in the trustee under section 58 of the Bankruptcy Act 1966 (Cth).
