Van Der Lee & Ors. v. State of New South Wales & Ors. [2002] NSWCA 286

New South Wales Court of Appeal

CITATION : Van Der Lee & Ors. v. State of New South Wales & Ors. [2002] NSWCA 286 FILE NUMBER(S) : CA 40351/02 - 40358/02 HEARING DATE(S) : 26 July 2002 JUDGMENT DATE : 30 August 2002

PARTIES : Gysbertus Wilhelmus van der Lee, Michael McConnell, Peter Wright, Andrew Griffiths and John Karl Hagley - claimants State of New South Wales; The Minister Administering the National Parks & Wildlife Act 1974; Roads & Traffic Authority of New South Wales - opponents JUDGMENT OF : Mason P at 1; Hodgson JA at 26; Santow JA at 68

LOWER COURT JURISDICTION : Supreme Court - Common Law Division LOWER COURT SC20349/00; 20362/01; 20355/00; 20126/00; 20007/01; 20650/00; 20704/00 FILE NUMBER(S) : LOWER COURT Adams J JUDICIAL OFFICER :

COUNSEL : Mr. R.J. Ellicott QC with Mr. D. Stack for claimants Mr. B. Walker SC with Mr. S.A. Gregory and Mr. M. Meek for opponents SOLICITORS : Deacons, Sydney for claimants Government Insurance Office of NSW for opponents CATCHWORDS : EVIDENCE - Privilege - Without prejudice communications attempting to negotiate a settlement of a dispute - Where such communications are alleged to evidence abuse of process - Whether admissible - PROCEDURE - Abuse of process - Proceedings against employees of deregistered company - Alleged purpose of obtaining money from holding company - Reasonable grounds for bringing proceedings against employees and against holding company - Whether proceedings against employees an abuse of process. LEGISLATION CITED : Evidence Act 1995, ss.11, 125, 139. Adams v Cape Industries plc [1991] 1 AllER 929 Briggs v. James Hardie & Co. Pty. Ltd. (1989) NSWLR 549 Citicorp Aust. Ltd. v. Cirillo [2000] SASC 219 In Re Daintrey [1893] 2 QB 116 Dataquest (Australia) Pty. Ltd. v. Dataquest Inc., Tamberlin J, FCA 8/8/96 Dowling v. Colonial Mutual Life Assurance Society Ltd. (1915) 20 CLR 509 Egan v. Willis (1996) 40 NSWLR 650 Field v. Commissioner of Railways (1957) 99 CLR 285 Flower & Hart v. White Industries (Qld) Pty. Ltd. (1999) 87 FCR 134 Hocking v. Western Australian Bank (1909) 9 CLR 738 CASES CITED: Idoport Pty. Ltd. v. National Australia Bank Ltd. [2001] NSWSC 222 James Hardie & Co. Pty. Ltd. v. Hall (1998) 43 NSWLR 554 Kang v. Kwan [2001] NSWSC 698 Melbourne Corporation v. Barry (1922) 31 CLR 174 Moran v. Moran [2000] NSWSC 151 Pitts v. Adney (1961) 78 WN(NSW) 886 Potter v. Minahan (1908) 7 CLR 277 Sargood Bros v. Commonwealth (1910) 11 CLR 258 Solomon's Case [1897] AC 220 Southern Equities Corporation Ltd. (In Liq) v. Arthur Anderson & Co. (1997) 70 SASR 166 Spautz v. Gibbs (1990) 21 NSWLR 230 Williams v. Spautz (1992) 174 CLR 509 DECISION : Leave to appeal refused with costs.