Flaherty v Girgis [1987] HCA 17

High Court of Australia Mason A.C.J. Wilson, Brennan, Deane and Dawson JJ. Flaherty v Girgis [1987] HCA 17

ORDER Appeal dismissed with costs.

Cur. adv. vult.

The following written judgments were delivered:—

1987, May 14 Mason A.C.J., Wilson and Dawson JJ.

The respondent is the plaintiff in an action commenced in the Supreme Court of New South Wales seeking damages for injuries which she suffered in Queensland on 19 November 1981 when she was hit by a motor vehicle driven by the appellant. The respondent normally lives in New South Wales but at the time of the accident she was on holiday in Queensland. The injuries which she suffered were severe. After her discharge from hospital in Queensland the respondent returned to New South Wales where she continued to receive treatment. The damages which she claims include the cost of medical treatment received by her in New South Wales and future economic loss based upon the prospective diminution of her earning capacity there.

Under the New South Wales Supreme Court Rules 1970 ("the Supreme Court Rules") provision is made for the service of originating process outside the State in certain specified cases: see Pt 10, r. 1. It was held in the Court of Appeal, and has not been contested before us, that these proceedings fall within Pt 10, r. 1(e) which, as it was then worded, applied "where the proceedings are founded on, or are for the recovery of, damage suffered wholly or partly in the State caused by a tortious act or omission wherever occurring". There is, therefore, no occasion to examine the reasoning which lies behind this conclusion and we do no more than observe that it is supported by authority in New South Wales: Brix-Neilsen v. Oceaneering Australia Pty. Ltd. [1] ; Challenor v. Douglas [2] .

1. [1982] 2 N.S.W.L.R. 173. 2. [1983] 2 N.S.W.L.R. 405.