Kostopoulos v Commonwealth of Australia [2012] NSWSC 1534

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Kostopoulos v Commonwealth of Australia [2012] NSWSC 1534 Hearing dates: 6, 7 August 2012 Decision date: 13 December 2012 Jurisdiction: Common Law Before: Latham J Decision: 1.Judgment is entered for the defendant. 2.The plaintiff is to pay the defendant's costs Catchwords: TORTS – unlawful detention – defence of lawful justification for detention – whether detaining officer held a reasonable suspicion that plaintiff was an unlawful non-citizen at the relevant time – consideration of circumstances as a whole – consideration of facts available to detaining officer – defence of lawful justification made out Legislation Cited: Migration Act 1958 (Cth) Migration Reform (Transitional Provisions) Regulations 1994 Cases Cited: Chan Ta Srey v Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs (2003) 134 FCR 308 Fernando v Commonwealth [2010] FCA 753 Goldie v Commonwealth of Australia and Others [2002] FCA 433 Kostopoulos v Minister for Immigration & Citizenship & Anor [2008] FCA 855 Moore v Minister for Immigration & Citizenship (2007) 161 FCR 236 Ruddock v Taylor [2005] HCA 48 ; 222 CLR 612 Sales v Minister for Immigration & Citizenship (2008) 171 FCR 56 Uddin v Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs [2005] FMCA 841 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Terry Kostopoulos - (Plaintiff) Commonwealth of Australia - (Defendant) Representation: Counsel: Dr AS Morrison SC / M Vesper - (Plaintiff) RE Williams QC / KC Morgan - (Defendant) Solicitors: Robert Patrick Higgins by his Partner Carroll & O'Dea - (Plaintiff) Australian Government Solicitor - (Defendant) File Number(s): 2010/00313770