Greaves v Valley Longwall International Drilling [2020] NSWDC 523

District Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Greaves v Valley Longwall International Drilling [2020] NSWDC 523 Hearing dates: 02 September 2020 Date of orders: 02 September 2020 Decision date: 02 September 2020 Jurisdiction: Civil Before: Neilson DCJ Decision: Defendant to pay the costs of the plaintiff in matter RJ461/2019, including the costs of this application for costs Catchwords: Practice and Procedure – Costs – Coal Miner's Workers Compensation – P made a claim for weekly payments of compensation in earlier proceedings which were settled on 11 December 2019 – Earlier P made a claim for lump sum compensation and served a supportive medical report on 6 February 2019 – In response to that D advised from 2 September 2019 of a medical examination on 16 October 2019 by a doctor who assessed P's lump sum claims and made reports dated 22 October 2019 – On 12 December 2019, P prepared a Statement of Claim claiming lump sum compensation in these proceedings – These proceedings settled on 24 August 2020 – D argued that P should have entered no costs or costs on a refresher basis only – However D well knew when it settled earlier proceedings that there was an outstanding claim for lump sum compensation and made no attempt to have that claim determined in earlier proceedings – D ordered to pay P's costs, including costs of costs argument. Legislation Cited: Workers Compensation Act 1987 Cases Cited: Bruce v Grocon Ltd (1995) 11 NSWCCR 247 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Darren Greaves – Plaintiff Valley Longwall International Drilling Pty Ltd – Defendant Representation: Counsel: Dennis Benson – Plaintiff Simon McMahon – Defendant