Cases and authorities

Succession. Next of kin enquiry. Proper approach to such an enquiry. Need for claimants to prove their claims. Walsh v Weigall (1887) 13 VLR 449 at 453 applied.; Presumption in s 9 and s 10 considered.

Application to dissolve and/or discharge injunction for material non-disclosure

Criminal law; evidence; admissions recorded in police notebook; entry signed; no tape recording of admissions; whether reasonable excuse; admissions inadmissible under s 86 of Evidence Act; requirements of s 424A of Crimes Act

Negligence; duty of care; schoolyard cricket game; teacher's duty to supervise. Per Giles and Fitzgerald JJA: substantial risk associated with the activity; teacher breached duty of care. Per Cole JA: negligence not established.

Equity; quantification of equitable compensation; appropriate method of calculation.

Costs; discretionary judgment of trial judge; impossible to say discretion miscarried; no sufficient reason why costs should not follow the event.

CRIMINAL LAW AND PROCEDURE; sentencing; appeal against severity; account to be taken of guilty plea to alternative offence; CRIMINAL LAW AND PROCEDURE; sentencing - principles as to sentencing of aboriginal prisoners

CRIMINAL LAW AND PROCEDURE; sentencing; appeal against severity; sentence 'manifestly excessive'

Criminal Law - whether direction necessary that it would be dangerous to convict on uncorroborated evidence of an accomplice.

Criminal Law; Sexual intercourse with child; Disclosure and use of medical evidence; Court need not be included in indictment to ground alternative statutory verdict; Judge explained alternative verdict to jury; Warnings given sufficient; Verdicts involved no miscarriage.

Negligence - damage - evidence - reliance on evidence of sole expert witness - failure trial judge to notify parties such reliance - is such reliance and failure to notify a denial of natural justice? - failure trial judge to give adequate reasons.

Application for Mareva orders in prima facie case of misappropriation; Delay in bringing application

Magistrates - Commercial Agents and Private Inquiry Agents Act 1963 - summons under s11 to show cause why licence should not be cancelled - exercise of magistrate's discretion - whether magistrate has power to award costs.

Family law - child welfare - anorexic child - custody and care of child - wardship of Court - Supreme Court's jurisdiction to make orders - order to authorise medical treatment contrary to child's wishes - order to exclude access by parents - order to authorise reasonable force

Telecommunications - telephones - whether user has proprietary right to business telephone number; Equity - interlocutory injunction - serious question to be tried - application by telephone user to preserve telephone number

CRIMINAL PRACTICE & PROCEDURE; Application for separate trials - s365(2) Crimes Act 1900; Cut-Throat defence

Sentence; relevance of entrapment; threats by police informer; assistance to authorities; sentence reduced

Criminal law - sentencing - manslaughter - sentence inconsistent with jury findings; Criminal law - sentencing - sentence manifestly excessive

Limitation Act - Trial judge's decision reversed.

CORPORTIONS — Terminating winding-up under s482(1) of Corporations Law — Relevant principles — Moulding orders and undertaking to ensure public interest and commercial morality not jeopardised — Self-executing order putting company back into liquidation if payments not received by company under Deed of Company Arrangements — Solvency considerations — Future directorial and financial control.

BAIL - Appeal against conviction adjourned.

Extension of time -ss 58(2), 60G & 60I Limitation Act; Aboriginal child made a Ward of the State

PROCEDURE — Application to re-open before judgment "entered" — Meaning of "entering" judgment — Guiding principles applicable to re-opening and illustrations — The jurisdiction to re-open is exceptional — Effect of setting aside a determination by Taxing Officer upon Court of Appeal’s orders and reasoning prior to that time — Status of such determination after set aside — Voidable but avoided ab initio — Existence pending avoidance — Binding effect of Court of Appeal decision on single judge — Meaning of no order as to costs.

Family Provision.; Claim by adult children.; No evidence of need for one child.

Nuisance; Negligence; Aerial spraying; Damages; Foreseeability

Personal injury; motor vehicle accident; commencement of action out of time; whether order made "against good faith".

NEGLIGENCE - Economic loss - Valuer - Negligent valuation - Duty of care - Reasonable reliance - Whether valuation stale; VALUER - Negligence - Duty of care - Reasonable reliance - Whether valuation stale.

motor vehicle accident - no error of trial judge.

Leave application; contract ; repudiation; quantity of work performed; estoppel; leave refused

Probate - revocation of grant - where there was conflict between two executors and the defendant did not wish to contend with the claim for his removal, the Order removed him from office as executor without prejudice to the continuing executorship of the other: the existing grant was not revoked. Consideration of the inherent power to remove an executor.

DEFAMATION - Imputations

Practice. Plaintiff seeks to discontinue at commencement of proceedings and have second defendant pay her costs. Claim based upon an alleged deliberate ambush of the plaintiff by the 2nd defendant. Consideration of the proper approach to such an application. Held not appropriate to determine merits and not possible to determine whether the proceedings properly commenced. Plaintiff ordered to pay 2nd defendant's costs from the time the plaintiff could properly assess the 2nd defendant's position.

Family Provision; Claim by adult daughter; Responsibility of applicant to place before the Court as fully and as frankly as possible all available information concerning her financial and material circumstances; Conduct disentitling; Plaintiff attempted to have testator committed to a lunatic asylum; Competing claims of chosen beneficiaries; Assets of estate not sufficient to meet any order for provision; Notional estate; Prescribed transactions; Claim against notional estate not made within prescribed period; Attempt by plaintiff to use written submissions to place before the Court inadmissable evidence; Written submissions used by plaintiff as a vehicle to make insulting and totally unjustified and baseless allegations against members of the legal profession.

Criminal law - Sentencing - Dangerous driving occasioning death contrary to Crimes Act 1900 (NSW) s52A(1) - Sentence above permissible range

PERSONAL INJURY - industrial - damages - past and future economic loss - past and future domestic assistance - costs of funds management of the verdict moneys

District Court Appeal:- Damages: past economic loss and loss of future earning capacity - no error of principle in calculating the amounts.; Indemnity Costs: Offer of Compromise made by the plaintiff some four months before the trial and not accepted - judgment for an amount in excess of the offer - application for indemnity costs refused by trial Judge on the ground that as further material was furnished after the making of the offer the defendant did not have a sufficient opportunity to assess it - held that on the particular facts of this case the material furnished after the Offer of Compromise was made was merely confirmatory of the case the plaintiff had always made, so that the defendant had ample opportunity to assess the offer and that, accordingly, the trial Judge's exercise of discretion had miscarried. Held further that costs of the appeal and the cross-appeal should be on an indemnity basis.

NEGLIGENCE - shopping centre - tenant conducts store - water entering through roof - customer slips - landlord owes duty of care to customer - whether breach of duty - balancing exercise in Wyong Shire Council v Shirt - on facts, not required to go to extraordinary expense of a system intended to detect and rectify source of water entry prior to entry of water - again on facts, not shown that system would have prevented the particular water entry. LEASE - shopping centre - tenant conducts store - landlord covenants to keep roof weatherproof - water entering through roof - water from cooling tower not rain - whether breach of covenant - on facts, water entry meant roof not weatherproof - was breach of covenant - fact water from cooling tower was part of causation of loss to tenant when customer slipped in water and sued tenant. LEASE - release and indemnity provisions - whether tenant indemnified landlord for tenant's claim against landlord for breach of covenant by landlord - badly drawn provisions - not to be so construed.

Criminal Law - Sentence - murder by stabbing - spontaneous violent incident - no questions of principle -

CLIENT LEGAL PRIVILEGE - loss by disclosure of substance of communication - Evidence Act s 122(2) - not lost by saying instructed counsel to advise - lost by saying what counsel advised.