Federal Court of Australia

Form 55: Notice of appeal (modified to include heading, signature block and filing party's details as required by Order 41 of the Federal Court Rules)
Version: 6
Rule: Order 52, rule 12

Guide to Form 55

Please read this guide and the form carefully. As the party appealing a decision (the appellant), you are responsible for making sure all your paperwork is in order. Although the Court’s Registry staff can check your forms and other court papers for completeness (for example, they check for signatures, and that attachments are present and signed by an authorised person within your State or Territory) and give you information about the Court’s procedures, they can not give you legal advice and they are not responsible for the accuracy of your documents.

When should you use Form 55?

Form 55 should be used if you want to appeal against:
· a judgment of a single Judge of the Federal Court whether interlocutory or final;
· a judgment of a Supreme Court of Territory other than the Australian Capital Territory or Northern Territory;
· certain judgments of courts (other than a Full Court of the Supreme Court) of a State, the Australian Capital Territory or the Northern Territory, exercising federal jurisdiction;
· certain judgments of the Federal Magistrates Court.

An appeal against a decision of a single Judge of the Court will be heard by the Full Court of the Federal Court. An appeal against a decision of a Federal Magistrate may be heard by a single Judge or the Full Court of the Federal Court. There is no re-hearing of the case – the Court will only consider the mistakes (errors of law) which you say the Judge or Federal Magistrate made.

You should not use this form if you want to appeal against:
· a decision of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. Use Form 55A.
· a decision of the Superannuation Complaints Tribunal. Use Form 55A.
· a decision of the Australian Competition Tribunal under s126 of the Moomba-Sydney Pipeline System Sale Act 1994. Use Form 55A.
· a decision of the Federal Police Disciplinary Tribunal. Use Form 55A.
· an appealable objection decision made under the Taxation Administration Act 1953. Use Form 55D.
· a departure prohibition order made under Taxation Administration Act 1953. Use Form 55DA
· a decision to which the Administrative Decisions (Judicial Review) Act 1977 applies. Use Form 56.
· a decision of the Registrar of Patents, Registrar of Designs or Registrar of Trademarks. Use Form 58A.
· an estimate by a trustee of a value of a debt or a liability under s82(4) of the Bankruptcy Act 1966. Use Form 5.
· a decision of taxing officer in respect of a bill of costs rendered by a person for services provided by a person in relation to the administration of a bankrupt estate. Use Form 5.

Drafting a Notice of Appeal can be very difficult. It is therefore recommended that a Notice of Appeal be prepared with legal assistance.

You can get contact details of organisations which may be able to provide free or low-cost legal advice or assistance from the Registry or see the Court’s website.

How do you appeal?

1. Get a Form 55 and fill it out. This is the Notice of Appeal. On this form you are called the appellant as you are the party making the appeal. You can get a copy of Form 55 from the Registry or download a copy from the Court’s website.

2. The Notice of Appeal must be filed in a Registry of the Court and served on the other parties to the appeal within 21 days of the date of the orders which you are appealing. If the time to file and serve the Notice of Appeal has, or is about to, run out, you can apply for an extension of this period - use Form 54A. You can get a copy of Form 54A and instructions on how to fill it out from the Registry or the Court’s website.

3. The original Notice of Appeal plus a copy for each other party must be delivered to the Federal Court. You can do this by bringing the documents to the Registry, or by posting or faxing them, or by sending them by the internet. This is called filing. More information about filing is available from the Registry and on the Court’s website.

Make sure you have a copy of the Notice of Appeal for yourself.

If you are appealing from a decision of the Court of a State or Territory, a copy of the Notice of Appeal must also be filed in the office of the Registrar, Master or other proper officer of that court.

4. Pay the applicable filing fee. If you cannot afford this fee you may be able to ask the Court to reduce it*. You can get a form to ask the Court to reduce payment and information about the circumstances where a reduction can be given on the Exemption and reduction of fees pages or from the Registry.

* Note: Up to October 2010, the Court could waive Court fees in some circumstances. Changes to the Federal Court of Australia Regulations 2004 introduced on 1 November 2010 means the Court can no longer waive fees; the Court can however, reduce the payment of Court fees if it will result in financial hardship.

5. If the notice is in the correct form Registry staff will stamp the original and the copies of the Notice of Appeal.

Unless the appeal is from a judgment of a Federal Magistrate, the Registry usually makes an appointment for both parties to attend a meeting to decide what material from the original case should be provided to the Court in the appeal book. Not all documents from the original hearing may be relevant. This process is called ‘settling the appeal book index’.

If the appeal is from a judgment of a Federal Magistrate, the Registry will allocate a date for a directions hearing or final hearing of the appeal.

6. You must also arrange for a stamped copy of the Notice of Appeal to be served on each respondent within 21 days of the date of the orders which you are appealing. For more information about service see Order 52 rule 15 and Order 52 rule 2 of the Federal Court Rules.

There are other important preparations which must take place before the hearing of the appeal. As the appellant these are your responsibility. The Registry can give you further information about these steps.

How to fill in your Notice of Appeal

Please read all of these notes before completing the Notice of Appeal form.

These instructions assume that you are not represented by a lawyer.

Heading

In the spaces provided, write:
· the name of the Court or Judge whose decision you are appealing
· your full name
· the name of each respondent to the appeal.

Paragraph 1

In the spaces provided, write:
· whether the appeal is against the whole judgment or part of it — if the appeal is only against part of the judgment you must list the orders against which you are appealing;
· the name of the Court or Judge or Federal Magistrate who made the decision;
· the date of the decision;
· the city where the decision was made.

Paragraph 2

Some types of appeal can only be made with the leave (or permission) of the Court. If leave was needed for your appeal, in this paragraph write the date on which that leave was granted.

Paragraph 3 (Grounds of the appeal)

In this part of the form you must write down the errors of law that you say the Judge or federal Magistrate made when reaching the decision. You can set out as many errors as you wish. Give each error a new paragraph number.

Paragraph 4 (Orders sought)

Write the orders which you want the Court to make in place of the orders that were made by the Judge or Federal Magistrate.

Respondent details

In the space provided after the words "To the respondent", write the address of each respondent.

Paragraph (b) after the words "Take Notice"

Paragraph (b) is completed by the Registry staff when you file the Notice of Appeal.

Address for service

In the next space provided write the address to which the Court or the respondent can deliver or send letters or documents to you. The address must be in Australia. The address must be a street address and cannot be a Post Office Box. This is called your address for service.

Date and signature

The notice must be signed and dated.

Filing details

Under the horizontal line at the bottom of the notice write:
· your name
· your address for service, telephone number and facsimile number (if any).

(January 2005; updated June 2009, February 2010; November 2010)