Mulroe v Mulroe [2022] NSWSC 1459

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Mulroe v Mulroe [2022] NSWSC 1459 Hearing dates: 17 October 2022 Date of orders: 26 October 2022 Decision date: 26 October 2022 Jurisdiction: Equity Before: Hallen J Decision: Orders that the Plaintiff's notice of motion filed on 7 September 2022 seeking the appointment of an adversarial expert be dismissed with costs. Catchwords: EVIDENCE – Expert evidence – Plaintiff seeks appointment of an adversarial expert, rather than joint expert, principally because a party has the right in litigation to "control her own destiny" – No attempt made by Plaintiff's solicitors prior to filing and serving notice of motion to engage with Defendant's solicitors on identity of any joint expert to be appointed – Relevance and importance of Civil Procedure Act, the UCPR, and Practice Note SC Eq 5 regarding expert evidence – Significance of UCPR r 31.17 which identifies the main purposes of the expert evidence rules – Relevant part of the Civil Procedure Act and the UCPR to safeguard the impartiality of the expert – Relevance of case management principles – Significance of nature of the proceedings which are Probate proceedings and the utility of the evidence of an adversarial expert, who neither saw, nor treated, the deceased Legislation Cited: Civil Procedure Act 2005 (NSW) ss 15, 56, 57, 58, 61, 62 Succession Act 2006 (NSW) s 129 Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 (NSW) Pt 31 Div 2, sch 7, rr 31.17, 31.19, 31.20, 31.23(1), 31.37, 31.38, 31.41(1), 31.43 Cases Cited: Anthony and Comino v Sanderson [1994] QCA 527 AON Risk Services Australia Limited v Australian National University (2009) 239 CLR 175; [2009] HCA 27 Bates v Messner (1967) 67 SR (NSW) 187 Baulderstone Hornibrook v HBO & DC Pty Ltd [2001] NSWSC 821 Coyne v Calabro [2009] NSWSC 1023 Daniels v Walker [2000] 1 WLR 1382 Dybac v Czerwaniw; The Estate of the Late Apolonia Czerwaniw [2022] NSWSC 1279 English v Stewart [2022] NSWSC 268 Estate Kouvakas; Lucas v Konakas [2014] NSWSC 786 GR v Secretary, Department of Communities and Justice; Secretary, Department of Communities and Justice v BW (a pseudonym) [2021] NSWCA 157 Graphite Energy Pty Ltd v Lloyd Energy Systems Pty Ltd [2014] NSWSC 1326 Halpin v Lumley General Insurance Ltd (2009) 78 NSWLR 265; [2009] NSWCA 372 Kelly v Kelly (2019) 17 ASTLR 429; [2019] NSWSC 994 Neales & Neales (2022) 64 Fam LR 592; [2022] FedCFamC1A 41 Oxley v Oxley [2018] NSWSC 91 Polivitte Ltd v Commercial Union Assurance Co. Plc [1987] 1 Lloyd's Rep 379 Re Estates Brooker-Pain and Soulos [2019] NSWSC 671 Shellharbour City Council v Minister for Planning (2011) 189 LGERA 348; [2011] NSWCA 195 Starr v Miller [2022] NSWCA 46 Starr v Miller; Starr v Miller [2021] NSWSC 426 The Estate of Genevieve Bryan [2021] NSWSC 567 Tsoutsouvas & Tsoutsouvas [2012] FamCA 521 UBS AG v Tyne (2018) 265 CLR 77; [2018] HCA 45 Whitehouse v Jordan [1981] 1 WLR 246 Wurz bht NSW Trustee and Guardian v Elawaad [2022] NSWSC 1404 Texts Cited: Hamilton QC, Lindsay SC and Webster SC, NSW Civil Procedure Handbook 2022 (2022, Thomson Reuters) at [CPA 15.40] Lord Woolf, Access to Justice: Final Report to the Lord Chancellor on the Civil Justice System in England and Wales (HMSO London, 1995) Practice Note SC Eq 11 Practice Note SC Eq 5 Practice Note SC Eq 7 Category: Procedural rulings Parties: Eileen Mulroe (Plaintiff/applicant) Andrew Mulroe (Defendant/respondent) Representation: Counsel: P W Bates (Plaintiff/applicant) A Djukanovic (Defendant/respondent)