Paramasivam v University of New South Wales & ors. [2006] NSWSC 1189

New South Wales Supreme Court

CITATION : Paramasivam v University of New South Wales & ors. [2006] NSWSC 1189

HEARING DATE(S) : 7 November 2006

JUDGMENT DATE : 7 November 2006

JUDGMENT OF : Sully J at 1

EX TEMPORE JUDGMENT DATE : 11/07/2006

DECISION : Proceedings commenced by statement of claim filed on 7 February 2006 dismissed with costs

LEGISLATION CITED : Uniform (Civil Procedure) Rules 2005 Uniform (Civil Procedure) Act

Gaja Lakshmi Paramasivam PARTIES : University of New South Wales State of New South Wales Commonwealth of Australia

FILE NUMBER(S) : SC 20035/2006

In person - Plaintiff COUNSEL : J. Mattson (solicitor) - 1st defendant C. Hodgson - 2nd defendant A. Roins-Fisher (solicitor) - 3rd defendant

In person - Plaintiff SOLICITORS : Bartier Perry - 1st defendant I.V. Knight - 2nd defendant Australian Government Solicitor - 3rd defendant

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF NEW SOUTH WALES COMMON LAW DIVISION

SULLY J

7 November 2006

20035/06 – GAJA LAKSHMI PARAMASIVAM v UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES & ORS

JUDGMENT

1 HIS HONOUR:: There are current in the Court principal proceedings brought by Mrs Gaja Paramasivam as plaintiff. Those proceedings were commenced by the filing of a statement of claim on 7 February 2006. Three defendants are cited in the statement of claim. The University of New South Wales is the first defendant, the State of New South Wales is the second defendant and the Commonwealth of Australia is the third defendant. 2 Attached to the statement of claim and intended, as I gather, to be read in conjunction with the statement of claim, is a document headed, relevantly, "Chronological Listing". It will be necessary to return presently to consider some aspects of these particular documents. 3 The first defendant, that is to say, the University of New South Wales, has filed a defence. That was done on 8 March 2006. The first two paragraphs of that defence are pleaded in the following terms: (1) The statement of claim filed 7 February 2006 discloses no cause of action. (2) The pleadings have a tendency to cause prejudice and are embarrassing, therefore making it difficult for the first defendant to plead its defence, other than as set out below: The first defendant denies the claims in the statement of claim. 4 There are several further paragraphs of pleadings and it is sufficient to say that, broadly speaking, each of them is prefaced by some such qualification as, to take paragraph 3 as an example, "to the extent that paragraph 1.1 of the statement of claim is capable of alleging defamation by the first defendant against the plaintiff…". 5 The second and the third defendants have not filed formal defences.