Hermione (a pseudonym) v Keegan [2022] NSWDC 146

District Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Hermione (a pseudonym) v Keegan [2022] NSWDC 146 Hearing dates: 15 February; 4 & 25 March; 14 April; 6 May 2022 Date of orders: 6 May 2022 Decision date: 06 May 2022 Jurisdiction: Civil Before: Judge Levy SC Decision: 1. Proposed settlement not approved; 2. See paragraph [38] for other orders. Catchwords: PRACTICE & PROCEDURE – non-approval of proposed infant settlement Legislation Cited: Civil Liability Act 2002 (NSW) Civil Procedure Act 2002 (NSW), s 56 Court Suppression and Non-Publication Orders Act 2010 (NSW), s 7, s 8 Category: Procedural rulings Parties: Hermione, a pseudonym (Plaintiff) Lawrence Keegan (Defendant) Representation: Counsel: Mr DW Elliott (Plaintiff) Ms E Elbourne (Defendant)

Solicitors: Gerard Malouf & Partners (Plaintiff) The Law Office of Conrad Curry (Defendant) File Number(s): 2021/183372 Publication restriction: A non-publication order has been made pursuant to s 7 and s 8 of the Court Suppression and Non-Publication Orders Act 2010 (NSW) imposing restrictions on publication of names and identifying details of the plaintiff and her mother

Judgment

Non-publication order and litigation pseudonyms 1. These reasons concern the consideration and the non-approval of a proposed infant settlement and the procedural history of the matter to this point. In these proceedings, a non-publication order has been made pursuant to s 7 and s 8 of the Court Suppression and Non-Publication Orders Act 2010 (NSW), which has the effect of prohibiting the publication or the disclosure of any information tending to reveal the identity or otherwise concerning the plaintiff and her tutor, until any further order of the Court. The plaintiff is assigned the litigation pseudonym "Hermione" and her tutor is assigned the litigation pseudonym "mother of Hermione".