Roberts v Shimmin [2024] NSWDC 171

District Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Roberts v Shimmin [2024] NSWDC 171 Hearing dates: 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 March and 9 June 2023 Date of orders: 29 April 2024 Decision date: 29 April 2024 Jurisdiction: Civil Before: Andronos SC DCJ Decision: (1) Direct the parties to provide agreed short minutes, giving effect to these reasons, to my Associate by 13 May 2024. (2) In the event that the parties cannot agree on the form of orders, grant leave to approach my Associate by 13 May 2024 for a timetable and hearing date for the determination of any issues arising therefrom. (3) Costs are reserved. Catchwords: NEGLIGENCE — Breach — Standard of care — Professional negligence – primary total knee arthroplasty/total knee replacement NEGLIGENCE — Causation — Materially contributing factor NEGLIGENCE — Damages — Non-economic loss NEGLIGENCE — Damages — Economic loss — Earning capacity Legislation Cited: Civil Liability Act 2002 (NSW), s 5O District Court Act 1973, s 44 Wrongs Act 1958 (Vic), s 28B, s 28G, s 28LE, s 28LN, s 48, s 51, s 58, s 59 Cases Cited: Adelaide Stevedoring Co Ltd v Forst (1940) 64 CLR 538 Arthur Robinson (Grafton) Pty Ltd v Carter (1968) 122 CLR 649 at 662 Boxell v Peninsula Health [2019] VSC 830 Briginshaw v Briginshaw (1938) 60 CLR 336 Bruce v Kaye [2004] NSWSC 277 Container Terminals Australia Ltd v Huseyin [2008] NSWCA 320 Csalar v Cirosta (2002) 55 NSWLR 212 Dean v Pope [2022] NSWCA 260 Dhupar v Lee (2022) 107 NSWLR 492 Elayoubi v Zipser [2008] NSWCA 335 Elbourne v Gibbs [2006] NSWCA 127 Forder v Hutchinson [2005] VSCA 281 Fox v Percy (2003) 214 CLR 118 Helton v Allen (1940) 63 CLR 691 Husher v Husher [1999] HCA 47; (1999) 197 CLR 138 Mason v Demasi [2009] NSWCA 227 Medlin v State GIO (1995) 182 CLR 1; [1995] HCA 5 Onassis and Calogeropoulos v Vergottis [1968] 2 Lloyd's Rep 403 Rogers v Whitaker [1992] HCA 58; (1992) 175 CLR 479 Schneider v Hoechst Schering Agrevo Pty Ltd [2001] FCA 102; (2001) 50 IPR 555 South Western Sydney Local Health District v Gould [2018] NSWCA 69; (2018) 97 NSWLR 513 State Rail Authority (NSW) v Earthline Constructions Pty Ltd (In Liq) [1999] HCA 3 Strong v Woolworths Ltd t/as Big W (2012) 246 CLR 182; [2012] HCA 5 Tabet v Gett (2010) 240 CLR 537 The Nominal Defendant v Cordin [2017] NSWCA 6 Transport Industries Insurance Co v Longmuir [1997] 1 VR 125 Tubemakers of Australia Limited v Fernandez (1976) 50 ALJR 720 Texts Cited: A M Suchowersky, D Dickison and LA Ashton, "Current variability in the assessment of component position for the unhappy knee replacement", (2019) ANZ J Surg 1 E J De Valk, J C A Noorduyn and E L A R Mutsaerts, "How to assess femoral and tibial component rotation after total knee arthroplasty with computed tomography: a systematic review" (2016) 24 Knee Surg Sports Traumatol Arthrosoc 3517 Harold Luntz and Sirko Harder, Assessment of Damages for Personal Injury and Death (5th ed, 2021, LexisNexis) K Yoshino, S Hagiwara, J Nakamura, T Tsukeoka, Y Tsuneizumi and S Ohtori "Intra-and interobserver reliability and agreement in three-dimensional computed tomography measurements of component positions after total knee arthroplasty", (2019) 26 The Knee 1102 M Saffi, S W Yong, M J Spangehi, H D Clarke, "Measuring Tibial Component Rotation Following TKA – What is the Best Method?" (2018) The Journal of Arhtroplasty, doi: https://doi.org/10/1016/j.arth.2018.10.022 S J MacDessi, W Griffith-Jones, I A Harris, J Bellermans and D B Chen, "Coronal Plane Alignment of the Knee (CPAK) classification" (2021) 103-B(2) Bone Joint J 329 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Susan Roberts (plaintiff) Andrew Shimmin (defendant) Representation: Counsel: Mr R O'Keefe with Ms Young (plaintiff) Mr J Downing SC (defendant)