Sick grandma, 83, and her cat take on Laundy pub kings in bizarre rental stoush

Pamela Maytom, 83, has taken hotel goliaths the Laundys to court, and even drawn in NRL star brothers Sam and Luke Burgess, in a desperate bid to stay living with her pet at a Woy Woy pub.

A disabled grandmother has taken hotel goliaths the Laundys to court, and even drawn in NRL star brothers Sam and Luke Burgess, as part of a desperate bid to stay living with her family and cat above a Woy Woy pub.

Pamela Maytom rushed from the Central Coast to the NSW Supreme Court in Sydney late on Saturday afternoon to launch legal action against millionaire father-and-son pub owners Arthur and Stuart Laundy, in an eleventh-hour bid to continue residing at the Bayview Hotel.

So moved was Justice Michael Meek by the efforts of Pamela – who at 83 years old is deaf and partially blind – that he called in his staff at 8pm on a weekend and asked a Sheriff to open up the courts so he could conduct an urgent hearing.

A disabled grandmother has taken hotel goliaths Stuart (left) and Arthur Laundy (centre) to court, in a bid to remain living in a room at the Bayview Hotel in Woy Woy, which they own. Picture: Richard Dobson

An affidavit prepared by Pamela’s daughter Rachel was read into evidence, detailing how the elderly lady, her daughter, granddaughter and assistance cat, had lived together at the pub since 2019.

But in March they were told by pub staff they would be required to move out of an apartment they shared and into a twin room down the hall, because “the Laundys were renovating the rooms upstairs in the Hotel”, the affidavit states.

“We have management moving back into the apartment so they can be on site 24 hours. We are happy to move you to a twin room down the hall,” the note from Bayview Hotel “management” said.

Rachel Maytom told The Daily Telegraph she believed the request was unfair as other long-term tenants had been allowed to stay.

Desperate not to be moved out of the apartment, the Maytoms urgently launched the eleventh hour action against the Laundys on June 29 – a day before the June 30 deadline to move they had been given by pub management.

The court heard that on top of being owned by the Laundys, the Maytoms believed South Sydney Rabbitohs legend Sam Burgess and his older brother Luke also owned a share in the pub – however they former rugby league stars were not included as defendants in the court action.

Justice Meek told the court that Rachel claimed the effort of pub staff to move them out of their apartment “constituted discrimination” against her elderly mother.

NRL legend Sam Burgess, and his brother Luke, were also mentioned in the bizarre late-night Saturday hearing – however are not defendants to, or involved in, the court action. Picture: Frank Redward

Pamela Maytom, 83, has been living in The Bayview Hotel at Woy Woy for a number of years, but is hoping to. Picture: AAP/Troy Snook

Rachel told the court she believed the note from hotel staff was “deceptive in nature” and placed Pamela under “unjustifiable hardship”.

Justice Meek said while Ms Maytom believed the Laundys were the correct defendants, he had no evidence that it was so.

Additionally, the experienced Supreme Court judge outlined that the father-and-son duo likely had no “awareness of the fact” that court action had been brought against them – and asked whether someone in management at the Bayview Hotel may have been “a more appropriate defendant”.

The court heard that despite Justice Meek’s efforts to open the court up late on a Saturday night to hear Ms Maytom’s matter urgently, he did not believe their claim actually fell within the jurisdiction of the NSW Supreme Court.

“It is not clear that the Supreme Court has jurisdiction under the provisions of the ADA (Anti-Discrimination Act) to make any interim order sought,” he said.

Justice Michael Meek was so moved by the efforts of Ms Maytom, that he opened the NSW Supreme Court in Sydney late on Saturday night, to conduct an urgent hearing. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Bianca De Marchi

“However, what I will do is give the plaintiffs permission to serve the summons on Arthur Laundy and Stuart Laundy.”
Justice Meek ruled that Pamela and her family could continue on with their matter in the Supreme Court, resulting in two additional hearings this week.

One of those occurred on Wednesday before Justice Ian Pike, who pushed the matter over to July 10 so that the Laundys could be made aware of the matter.

When contacted for comment, Stuart Laundy said he was currently overseas and said he “did not know much” about the matter but that he “hoped the lady is OK”.