Smith v The Council of Trinity Grammar School [2021] NSWSC 1592

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Smith v The Council of Trinity Grammar School [2021] NSWSC 1592 Hearing dates: 3 November 2021 Date of orders: 8 December 2021 Decision date: 08 December 2021 Jurisdiction: Common Law Before: Harrison AsJ Decision: The Court orders: (1) A permanent stay of these proceedings be granted. (2) The plaintiff is to pay the defendant's costs. Catchwords: CIVIL PROCEDURE – Permanent stay of proceedings – abuse of process – Where delay has resulted in relevant evidence becoming unavailable or impoverished – Where defendant is unable to give evidence – Whether delay results in inability to have a fair trial on balance of probabilities – Stay granted Legislation Cited: Civil Procedure Act 2005 (NSW), ss 67, 156 Limitation Act 1969 (NSW), s 6A Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 (NSW), r 2.1 Cases Cited: Brisbane South Regional Health Authority v Taylor (1996) 186 CLR 541 Connellan v Murphy [2017] VSCA 116 GLJ v The Trustees of the Roman Catholic Church for the Diocese of Lismore [2021] NSWSC 1204 GLJ v The Trustees of the Roman Catholic Church for the Diocese of Lismore [2021] NSWSC 1204 Longman v The Queen (1989) 168 CLR 79 Moubarak bht Coorey v Holt (2019) 100 NSWLR 218 Newcastle City Council v Batistatos [2006] HCA 27 Prince Alfred College Incorporated v ADC (2016) 258 CLR 134 State of New South Wales v Lepore (2003) 212 CLR 511 Texts Cited: Justice Peter McClellan AM, Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse Report (December 2017). Category: Procedural rulings Parties: Andrew Smith (Plaintiff) The Council of Trinity Grammar School (Defendant) Representation: Counsel: Mr J Maconachie QC (Plaintiff) Mr G Bateman (Plaintiff)