Mays as tutor for Mays v Hill [2009] NSWDC 342

New South Wales District Court

CITATION: Mays as tutor for Mays v Hill [2009] NSWDC 342

HEARING DATE(S): 14 December 2009 EX TEMPORE JUDGMENT DATE : 16 December 2009

JURISDICTION: District Court - Civil

JUDGMENT OF: Sidis DCJ

1. The defendant is estopped from withdrawing the admission of breach of duty of care. DECISION: 2. The defendant is to pay the defendant's costs of the application. 3. The proceedings are returned to the Taree District Court to be listed in the Registrar's call over list of matters to be listed in the March 2010 sittings. 4. The exhibits and affidavit evidence is returned.

CATCHWORDS: ESTOPPEL - Withdrawal of admission 8 years after accident - Delay in informing plaintiff of proposal to withdraw - Prejudice - Reliability of witness statements

CASES CITED: Commonwealth of Australia v Verwayen [1990] 170 CLR 394 Nominal Defendant v Gabriel [2007] NSWCA 52

PARTIES: Martin John Mays By His Tutor Lesley Anne Mays (Plaintiff) Graham William Charles Hill (Defendant)

FILE NUMBER(S): 55/01

COUNSEL: A Stone (For the Plaintiff) P Cummings (For the Defendant)

SOLICITORS: Stacks / The Law Firm Pty Ltd (For the Plaintiff) Ferguson Bolton Lawyers (For the Defendant)

JUDGMENT

1 The matter of Mays v Hill involves a claim brought by a plaintiff in respect of a motor vehicle accident that occurred on 5 June 1996. At the time of the accident the plaintiff was five and a half years old. He is now nineteen. It was expected that the damages aspect of his claim would be heard at the Taree District Court in March 2010.