Australia, July 28 -- New South Wales Land and Environment Court issued text of the following judgement on June 27:

1. These proceedings concern a contract for the sale and purchase of property at 6 Queen Street, Croydon Park, New South Wales, being the land in folio identifier XX/XXX.

2. The contract was entered into on 2 December 2021 between the plaintiff, Laurie Soueid, as purchaser, and the defendant, Huynh Bich Thuy Dang (also known as Lisa Dang), as vendor.

3. The contract stipulated a purchase price of $2,400,000 including a deposit of $480,000 and provided for completion three months after the date of the contract.

4. The plaintiff commenced these proceedings by statement of claim filed on 21 June 2022 seeking an order for specific performance of the contract.

5. A defence and cross-claim filed by the defendant in July 2022 were struck out in September 2022 with liberty to re-plead.

6. The defendant then filed a defence and cross-claim on 6 February 2023 seeking orders that the contract for sale of land be rescinded, declared void or set aside, and orders for specific performance of an alleged loan agreement between the plaintiff (as lender) and the defendant (as borrower).

7. On 14 June 2024, following repeated non-compliance with the Court's orders for the filing and service of evidence, the defendant's defence and cross-claim were struck out and default judgment for specific performance was entered against her.

8. The defendant filed a notice of motion to set aside the default judgment on 15 October 2024, but failed to appear at the hearing of the motion on 6 December 2024. The motion was dismissed.

9. These reasons concern a further application made by the defendant by notice of motion filed on 4 June 2025 to set aside the default judgment entered on 14 June 2024.

Applicable principles

10. As the plaintiff acknowledged, r 36.16(2)(b) of the Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 (NSW) confers on the Court a broad discretion to set aside or vary a judgment after it has been entered if the judgment was given in the absence of a party.

*Rest of the document can be viewed at: (https://www.caselaw.nsw.gov.au/decision/197aa6256bcd0cd0e81b0b77)

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