Cases and authorities

Torts - Negligence - Duty of Care - Welfare of children - Child abuse - Sexual abuse - Parents and grandparent - Suspected sexual abuse of children - Claims of nervous shock, distress, psychiatric injury, personal and financial loss as a result of allegations - Responsibilities of Director General and departmental officers - Allegation of negligence against Director General and departmental officers in investigating, reporting and acting on allegations - Whether duty owed to parents and grandparent by Director General and departmental officers in investigating, reporting and acting on allegations of child abuse - Police - Allegation of negligence against police in investigating, prosecuting and continuing prosecution - Whether duty owed to parents and grandparent by police in investigating, prosecuting and continuing a prosecution - Public policy

COSTS - complex litigation - rulings on costs.

TORT – Personal Injury – Costs – whether Bullock or Sanderson order should be made – costs between contributing defendants – whether costs incurred by plaintiff reasonable as between plaintiff and unsuccessful defendant – where claims against defendants were independent and alternative

LESSOR and LESSEE - rent review - Valuer's determination - Lessor sought to set aside valuer's determination - rental determination explained by valuer saying "our rental determination dated 1 August 2000 ... did not include GST" - consideration of grounds of review by Court of valuer's determination - on the facts, it had not been shown that the valuer made a mistake - judgment for lessee. - VALUATION OF LAND - valuer's determination on rent review under lease - no mistake shown.

Extension of time to serve Statement of Claim - Appeal from decision of Master

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY [112], [113] - Other matters - Confidential information - What constitutes and generally - Matters to be established - Remedies for breach - Interlocutory injunction - Confidential material published by defendant in daily newspaper - Injunction restraining further publication futile.

Family Provision. Application by children of former wife. Designation as notional estate of property jointly owned by deceased and his defacto wife. Order for legacies out of notional estate. Consideration of s 28(5)(d) of the Family Provision Act 1982.

Re-determination of life sentence - Rape and murder by young person - Effects of alcohol and drugs - Applicant in custody 13-1/2 years - Protective custody - Educational and other courses undertaken by applicant - Good prison reports - Risk of re-offending low - Need for time to prepare applicant for civilian life - Need for period of supervision in civilian life after release

Summary judgment - notice under s 92 Conveyancing Act 1999 - declaration as to costs

Injunctions - Mandatory injunction - No question of principle

Costs - appeal from Equal Opportunity Tribunal - statutory test to be applied in determination of costs

Criminal Law - Sexual offences - Appeal against conviction of carnal knowledge of person under age of 16 years - Whether acquittal in relation to one count made conviction in relation to another count inconsistent and unreliable - Whether the verdicts could be reconciled - Criminal Practice and Procedure - Judicial directions - Sexual offences - "Kilby direction" - Whether trial judge's direction on complainant's credit having regard to delay was inadequate - Reduced impact of delay on credibility of complainant where another person witnessed matters pointing towards occurrence of offence

EQUITY [340] - Equitable remedies - Injunctions - Interlocutory injunctions - Injunctions to preserve property pending determination of rights - Mareva injunctions - Other matters - Nature of evidence required - Defendants selling house, declining to indicate nature of defence to proceedings or reveal their assets and failing to appear - PROCEDURE [81] - Supreme Court procedure - Practice under Supreme Court Rules - Preliminary rules and generally - Overriding purpose.

SUCCESSION [274]- Wills- Specific legacy- Ademption- Exceptions to rule that ademption occurs if testator does not possess property at date of death.

CORPORATIONS [286] - Winding up - Liquidators - Rights and powers - In winding up by Court - Power to enter into agreement on company's behalf - Necessity for approval if performance of contract may extend beyond 3 months - Approval by Court - Basis on which discretion may be exercised - Relevant considerations.

Contempt of Court - Publication of matter allegedly having a tendency to deter the plaintiff from proceeding - No question of principle

Summary judgment - exercise of an option

CRIMINAL LAW - Practice and procedure - Whether formal order for separation of jury required. - CRIMINAL LAW - Sexual offences - Appeal against conviction - Whether inconsistent verdicts.

Criminal Practice and Procedure - Admission of Evidence - whether evidence of police officers that they recognised person in photographs as the accused was relevant under s55 Evidence Act - application of Smith v The Queen (2001) HCA 50 - whether trial Judge corrected error on part of prosecutor in commenting on the accused's mother's failure to give evidence contrary to s20(3) Evidence Act - whether process of examining accused from a similar angle to that shown in photographs of the crime contravened s137 Evidence Act

CONTRACT - Settlement of claim by bank against guarantors - Assignment of bank's debt to one guarantor - Covenant by bank to take no further steps - Whether assignee took subject to that covenant - LIMITATION OF ACTIONS - Confirmation of cause of action - Acknowledgement - Settlement of dispute on terms involving payment to bank - Provision for judgment for greater sum if terms not complied with - Terms complied with - Whether cause of action for greater sum confirmed. D.

CRIMINAL LAW - Practice and procedure - Separate trials - Court's discretion t order - Whether discretion miscarried

SUCCESSION [190]- Wills- Construction- Gift to child who shall attain 25- Whether vested or contingent.

PERSONAL INJURY - nervous shock - duty of care - sporting accidents - school's liability for foreseeable risk.

Security for Costs - Part 53 rule 2- litigation for the benefit of others - whether benefit to the plaintiff - Evidentiary burden - whether applicant has discharged burden.

Fitness for trial

CRIMINAL LAW - Appeal against conviction - Possession of recently-stolen property - Other evidence from which knowledge that property stolen could be inferred - Whether directions adequate - Allegation of unfairly prejudicial remarks by trial judge - No point taken at trial - Whether leave should be given to rely on this ground.

TORT - Trespass to person - Assault and battery - Whether finding of battery should have been made when assault alleged - DAMAGES - Whether includes distress suffered by reason of vulnerable personality - COSTS - Plaintiff unsuccessful at first instance - Recovers $2,000 on appeal - Appropriate order

PROFESSIONS AND TRADES [170] - Lawyers - Liens - Possessory lien - Incidents of lien - Preservation of lien - Change of solicitors - Documents required for continued conduct of proceedings.

Workers Compensation Act Pt 5 - employers' liability - assessment of damages

CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION - directors' meeting - NRMA sought interlocutory injunction to restrain communication by 3 directors and publication by SMH of events at board meeting of 17/9/01 - examination of facts relating to reasonable apprehension of publication - SMH had some source of information, not shown to be any of the director defendants - declining to give undertaking not to communicate events was not in the circumstances evidence of a threat to communicate it - one director stated at meeting and gave evidence that she was considering and might decide to communicate events at part of meeting when occupation of the Chair was discussed - Directors' Code of Conduct entitled directors to communicate information on deciding to do so on stated principles - there was no reasonable apprehension of communication of information about other subjects or of publication by SMH - the Court declined to make an injunction which would prevent that director from taking a course which this Code of Conduct permited her to take - interlocutory injunction refused.

alleged professional negligence - solicitor

Application to set aside demand - test establishing genuine dispute - low threshold - nature of the evidence - must be more than mere assertion - failure to join joint creditors - whether a mere defect

Sentencing - appeal against severity - reliance upon JIRS statistics to argue sentence was manifestly excessive bearing in mind only a single episode supply of drugs - applicant said to be a go-between - appeal dismissed.

Negligence - psychological injury allegedly caused by stress at work - no unsettled question of principle - ND

Defamation - plea of mitigation of damages - admissibility of evidence - whether evidence related to 'relevant sector' of reputation - appeal dismissed.

NEGLIGENCE - Duty of care - Economic loss - Absence of physical injury to person or property - Licensed club - Gaming machines and other forms of gambling - Club cashing third party cheques as well as cheques drawn by member on own bank account - Proceeds of cheques used for gambling in club premises - Whether club liable to repay member amount of gambling losses - No relevant duty of care owed by club to member D

Extension of time to commence proceedings - ss60G & 60I Limitation Act - Voyager/Melbourne Collision

CORPORATIONS - Statutory demand - Indemnity costs where no affidavit verifying - Responsibility of officer.

N/A

Extension of time to commence proceedings - ss60G & 60I Limitation Act - Voyager/Melbourne Collision

CORPORATIONS - Statutory demands arising from a transaction in foreign currency - Convenient but reasonably contemporaneous date chosen in the Statutory Demand for conversion of foreign currency to A$ - If a defect, because not an appropriate date - no evidence adduced to demonstrate "substantial injustice" to debtor for purposes of s459J - no offsetting claim.

Practice and procedure - Security for costs - Guillotine Orders

CRIMINAL LAW - Withdrawal of guilty plea - miscarriage of justice - inappropriate advice - improper pressure - legal representatives told appellant of alleged comments of trial judge as to his likelihood of being convicted - whether it is sufficient for the pressure to be one of a number of factors leading to the decision to plead guilty - tactical advantage in pleading guilty - duty of legal representatives not to bring improper pressure on clients to plead guilty. - CRIMINAL LAW - Sentence - miscarriage of justice - failure of counsel to obtain instructions as to factual basis of matter to be argued on sentence. D

Insurance - Double Insurance - Contribution - Plaintiff's choice of defendants