Cases and authorities

Criminal Law - Appeal against conviction following plea of guilty - fresh evidence of police misconduct

TAXES AND DUTIES - Goods and Services Tax - Motion by Commissioner of Taxation for summary termination - Summons for declaratory relief filed by taxpayer during Commissioner's investigation - Exercise of investigative powers under Taxation Administration Act 1953 (Cth) feared to constitute contempt of court

Family Provision. Application by defacto partner and three sons of deceased. Sons provided for by a discretionary trust. Consideration of whether it was an appropriate provision. Held it was not an appropriate provision. Order for sharing of estate and legacy to partners.

Sentence - Murder - Psychological condition of prisoner - Youth - Plea of guilty - Going to circumstance of offence or of offender

Family Law. Application under Property (Relationships) Act for adjustment of property interests. Earlier separation agreement set aside. Consideration of post separation contributions and superannuation.

PROCEDURE - costs - proceedings for rectification of will to correct error made by solicitor - whether estate should be indemnified by solicitors for costs

Family Provision Act - sons - no provision in will for plaintiff - needs established

PROCEDURE - contempt, attachment and sequestration - submission of no case to answer - case to answer found to exist - whether defendant precluded from calling evidence - whether Part 34, rule 8(4) Supreme Court Rules to be applied - whether Part 34, rule 8(4) to be dispensed with

ESTOPPEL - General Principles - Land tax assessments for 1999 and 2000 years - High Court concluded Land Tax Management Act 1956 did not levy tax on the Commonwealth and it was unnecessary to consider the constitutional validity of the Commonwealth Places (Mirror Taxes) Act 1998 (Cth), s 6(2) that purported to uphold State taxing laws that levied tax in relation to Commonwealth places contrary to the Constitution (Cth), s 52(i) - Later proceedings challenging land tax assessments for 1999 to 2004 years on basis the land was a Commonwealth place and the Commonwealth Places (Mirror Taxes) Act 1998 (Cth), s 6(2) did not apply to it and on the basis that assessments were raised against the wrong person because the registered proprietor had transferred the land to the second plaintiff who had entered into possession and the Land Tax Management Act 1956, s 26 deemed him to be the owner - Whether res judicata estoppel applied to the 1999 and 2000 years - Whether issue estoppel applied to the constitutional question for the 2001 to 2002 years - Whether Anshun estoppel applied to the transfer issue

EVIDENCE - client legal privilege - waiver - file notes of meeting attended by lawyers - whether production of notes constitutes waiver of privilege

PROCEDURE - contempt, attachment and sequestration - charge alleging contempt by breaching court orders on two particular days - evidence tendered of conduct on subsequent days - whether admissible at hearing to decide whether contempt had occurred

Appeal decision of Local Court Magistrate - s 34H(1) Land Tax Act 1956 (NSW)

Appeal decision of LCM - power of search, definition of 'premises' - Fisheries Management Act 1994 (NSW)

INTEREST - Whether Equitable Relief or Fiduciary Relationship - Claim to total and permanent disablement under superannuation fund rejected - Payment subsequently made by trustee - Whether claim for interest as equitable compensation for alleged breach of trust by initial rejection sustainable - LIMITATION OF ACTIONS - Trusts and Deceased Estates - Action for interest - Incapacity and rejection of claim more than six years before action brought - Whether statute-barred

Criminal law - appeal against severity of sentence - multiple offences of armed robbery and robbery in company - drug dependent young offender - aggravating factors taken into account

Criminal law - appeal against severity of sentence - larceny - worst category of case - discount for plea of guilty and assistance to the authorities

PERSONAL INJURY - fall from ladder by appellant while performing work for the respondent - whether relationship of employer/employee or contractor/sub-contractor - whether respondent negligent in failing to provide safe system/place of work - whether risk obvious to appellant - whether respondent in breach of regulations 73 and 80, Construction Safety Act 1912 (NSW)

CORPORATIONS [20] - Constitution and legal capacity - External litigation - Claim by shareholder against third party - Joinder of company as claimant - Necessity for.

Appeal decision of Local Court (Small Claims) Assessor - bias

EQUITY [340] - Equitable remedies - Injunctions - Interlocutory injunctions - Injunctions to preserve property pending determination of rights - Mareva injunctions - Other matters - Need to fund litigation - Fees to be released must be established to be reasonable.

Family Provision Act - daughter and grandchildren - dependency on deceased - absence of additional factors

Costs - offer of compromise - whether effective under Rules - whether to order otherwise - whether also had effect as Calderbank offer - whether unreasonably rejected. D

Appeal decision of CTTT - s 67 - what is a question with respect to a matter of law

Economic Loss

SUCCESSION [320]- Family Provision- Adult daughter left with gift of income for 20 years- Inadequate- Income gifts capitalized.

INSURANCE [113]- Professional indemnity insurance- Exception for liability arising out of dishonesty- Scope. PROFESSIONS [70]- Lawyers- Liability for false certificate. TRADE & COMMERCE [93]- Trade practices- Solicitor transmitting false certificate to another firm of solicitors- Whether liable to other solicitor's client for false and misleading conduct. WORDS & PHRASES- "Dishonest".

Application under Slip Rule

Security for costs - Application for further security - Delay - Whether applicants' conduct caused respondent's impecuniosity

Security for costs - Delay

EVIDENCE - client legal privilege - whether client/lawyer relationship existed between Commonwealth DPP and ASIC - whether communications were privileged, where made between legal officers of DPP and ASIC, and between legal/enforcement officer of ASIC and other ASIC officers - waiver of privilege - issue waiver where ASIC puts in issue its state of mind - disclosure waiver in cases of "partial" disclosure

Professional negligence - legal practitioners - terms of retainer - breach - causation - proof of loss - action fails

[COSTS] - Whether conduct of the plaintiffs justifies awarding costs to the defendants on an indemnity basis to the defendants - Whether the court should depart from the usual rule that costs are payable at the conclusion of proceedings

DISCRIMINATION - Indirect discrimination on grounds of sex - Motive for indirect discrimination is irrelevant. - DISCRIMINATION - Construction - Anti-Discrimination Act 1977, s.24(1)(b) - The words "on the ground of the aggrieved person's sex" in s.24(1) are mere surplusage in relation to s.24(1)(b) - The test of 'reasonableness' in s.24(1)(b) is less demanding than one of necessity, but more demanding than a test of convenience. - DISCRIMINATION - Tribunals - Industrial questions - Anti-Discrimination Act 1977, s.54 - Amendments - Existence of an award or industrial agreement is no longer a defence. - ERROR OF LAW - Onus - Relevant and irrelevant considerations - The question whether a consideration is relevant falls to be determined having regard to the matter in issue - Existence of specialist industrial tribunal - Role of court in relation to industrial disputes. - INTEREST - Administrative Decisions Tribunal Act 1997 - Whether claimants entitled to interest by way of compensation for the loss of the use of money that ought to have been paid to them by way of salary but for the discriminatory conduct - A claim for damages under the Act may include a claim for compensatory interest. - COSTS - Administrative Decisions Tribunal Act 1997, s.114(2) - Determination of the application for costs under this section was a question of fact not law.

DEFAMATION - whether the trial judge was bound to record the unanimous answers of the jury and enter judgment accordingly - whether the trial judge had power to discharge the jury and order a new trial - whether power to discharge jury was properly exercised - whether the jury's answer that imputation was not defamatory was perverse or unreasonable or a conclusion that no reasonable jury, properly instructed, could reach - scope of appellate review of determination of jury in defamation proceedings - scope of new trial.

Procedure - Costs - motor accidents legislation - plaintiff alleges insurer liable to idemnify defendant - insurer denies liability - insurer joined as party to proceedings - insurer not liable - whether entitled to costs

SUCCESSION [320]- Family provision- Adult daughter- Claim made after distribution of estate- Distribution made early though after publication of prescribed notice- Position of executor- Whether notional estate could be used to satisfy order.

CORPORATIONS - winding up - application for order for winding up in insolvency where company already under creditors voluntary winding up - potential advantages to creditors under alternative form of winding up

PROCEDURE - Contempt, attachment and sequestration - Whether criminal contempt - Whether sentence of imprisonment appropriate - Supreme Court Rules 1970, Pt 55 r 13(1) - Whether Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 applies - Whether power to suspend a custodial order upon undertaking community service

Negligence - professional negligence by solicitors - claim for expectation damages - whether claim correctly categorised as being for loss of a chance to exploit an asset or as being for the value of the asset lost - whether an investment in the company was evidence of value - claim for reliance damages - whether reliance damages recoverable otherwise than for expenses incurred in connection with a contract between plaintiffs and defendants

PROCEDURE - transfer of proceedings under section 8(1) Jurisdiction of Courts (Cross-vesting) Act 1987 - proceedings in Industrial Relations Commission of New South Wales and related proceedings in Supreme Court of Queensland - Supreme Court proceedings begun to join those proceedings together

CRIMINAL LAW: sentence - murder, shoot with intent to murder - pleas of not guilty - unpremeditated - intent to kill.

Dismiss proceedings - Part 33 r 6(2) SCR

PRACTICE - whether question of whether proceedings compromised should be decided on Notice of Motion in those proceedings - CONTRACT - formation of contract - whether contract arises from particular course of correspondence (no question of principle)

Criminal law - sentencing - principles - Drug Court - competency of appeals - constitution of Court of Criminal Appeal

Criminal law - sentencing - assault occasioning actual bodily harm to police officer in execution of duty - relevance of De Simoni principle - delay - relevance of antecedent criminal history - "special circumstances"

Criminal law - sentencing - principles - Drug Court - competency of appeals - constitution of Court of Criminal Appeal