Diane Elva May Harris v Perry Homes (Aust) Pty Limited & Anor [2021] NSWDC 756

District Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Diane Elva May Harris v Perry Homes (Aust) Pty Limited & Anor [2021] NSWDC 756 Hearing dates: 4 November 2021 Date of orders: 4 November 2021 Decision date: 04 November 2021 Jurisdiction: Civil Before: Neilson DCJ Decision: 1. Leave granted to the plaintiff to file and serve a further amended statement of claim in the form of the document entitled "second further amended statement of claim". 2. The second prayer for relief is refused. 3. Leave granted to the plaintiff to file and serve by 4:00pm on 3 December 2021 an edited copy of Mr Cuniffe's report or a further report having the same effect, removing from his report matters relating to liability. 4. Leave granted to the plaintiff to adduce from Mr Cuniffe the cost of rectification work in addition to the cost of demolition work. 5. The costs of this notice of motion are the defendants' costs in the cause. Catchwords: CIVIL PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE – BUILDING CASE – EXPERT EVIDENCE – UCPR 31.17 ­– On 18 May 2021, Judicial Registrar made an order that the Plaintiff serve an expert report relating to quantum by 17 July 2021 – On 18 May 2021 Plaintiff's solicitor qualified an expert asking him to prepare a report about quantum and liability – Application by plaintiff to for leave to adduce that report on liability – Main purpose of UCPR 31 Division 2 (expert evidence) is to limit expert witnesses to the minimum necessary to achieve justice – plaintiff already had an expert in the appropriate field – Application refused – Expert on quantum had only costed the demolition and reconstruction of the building but not the cost of rectification – Leave granted to serve a further report of the expert costing both rectification and reconstruction. Legislation Cited: Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 Cases Cited: Nil. Texts Cited: Nil. Category: Procedural rulings Parties: Plaintiff Diane Elva May Harris First Defendant Perry Homes (Aust) Pty Limited Second Defendant Jenkins trading as Col Jenkins and Associates Representation: Plaintiff T. Bland First Defendant M. Steele Second Defendant C. Simpson File Number(s): 2020/00045503 Publication restriction: Nil.