Leggett v Hawkesbury Race Club Limited (No 1) [2021] FCA 1298

Federal Court of Australia

Leggett v Hawkesbury Race Club Limited (No 1) [2021] FCA 1298 File number(s): NSD 1554 of 2019

Judgment of: RARES J

Date of judgment: 18 October 2021

Catchwords: ESTOPPEL – issue estoppel – prior adjudication in arbitration in Workers' Compensation Commission – where applicant brought subsequent common law damages claim – whether reasons of arbitrator were admissible in later proceedings to prove issue estoppel – Held: respondent estopped from denying findings of arbitrator – reasons of arbitrator admissible.

Legislation: Workers' Compensation Act 1987 (NSW)

Cases cited: Blair v Curran (1939) 62 CLR 464 Feltham v St Vincent's Hospital (1993) 9 NSWCCR 547 Minister for Immigration and Ethnic Affairs v Wu Shan Liang (1996) 185 CLR 259

Division: Fair Work Division

Registry: New South Wales

National Practice Area: Employment and Industrial Relations

Number of paragraphs: 23

Date of hearing: 18 October 2021

Counsel for the Applicant: Mr M. Best and Mr G. Fredericks

Solicitor for the Applicant: Gilberts Legal

Counsel for the Respondent: Mr L. King SC and Mr I. Latham

Solicitor for the Respondent: The Workplace – Employment Lawyers

ORDERS NSD 1554 of 2019

BETWEEN: VIVIENNE LEGGETT Applicant AND: HAWKESBURY RACE CLUB LIMITED Respondent

order made by: RARES J DATE OF ORDER: 18 OCTOBER 2021

THE COURT RULES THAT:

1. The statement of reasons of the arbitrator for the certificate of determination made on 7 December 2017 in the Workers' Compensation Commission at pages 804 to 829 of the court book be admitted into evidence as part of exhibit A. Note: Entry of orders is dealt with in Rule 39.32 of the Federal Court Rules 2011.