Chehaita by her tutor Chehaita v South Eastern Sydney and Illawarra Area Health Service [2013] NSWDC 311

District Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Chehaita by her tutor Chehaita v South Eastern Sydney and Illawarra Area Health Service [2013] NSWDC 311 Hearing dates: 25 October 2013 Decision date: 25 October 2013 Jurisdiction: Civil Before: P Taylor SC DCJ Decision: (1) Dismiss the defendant's notice of motion filed 16 October 2013. (2) By consent, order that costs of the motion be costs in the proceedings. Catchwords: PROCEDURE - whether to remove matter from inactive list - injury has stabilised - 16 year old plaintiff - career path uncertain Category: Procedural and other rulings Parties: Yasmin Chehaita by her tutor Hanadi Chehaita (plaintiff) South Eastern Sydney and Illawarra Area Health Service (defendant) Representation: Mr S Longhurst (plaintiff) Mr Rooney (defendant) Russell McLelland Brown Lawyers (plaintiff) GILD Insurance Litigation Pty Ltd (defendant) File Number(s): 2008/322215 Publication restriction: No

EX TEMPORE Judgment 1The defendant applies for this matter to be removed from the inactive list. The principal basis for this application is that the injury to the plaintiff has stabilised and that there is no evidence that it is likely either to improve or worsen. 2The plaintiff is a Year 10 student of 16 years of age who has an injured arm. Unsurprisingly she has not formulated any concrete plans as to what her career path will be, and therefore there remains significant uncertainty as to the impact of her injured arm on her future employment, and possibly in relation to many other areas as well. The plaintiff wishes to postpone the hearing of this matter because of this uncertainty. In my view, the plaintiff's concern about the uncertain effect of her injury is well founded. 3Had the plaintiff reached the age of 18 years, completed her secondary education and decided to embark on a particular course at university or some other path then there may be a proper basis for the matter to be removed from the inactive list. However, I do not think that the interests of justice in this particular matter require or suggest that there should be a change in the status of the matter at this stage. 4Accordingly, I refuse the defendant's application and make the following orders: (1)Dismiss the defendant's notice of motion filed 16 October 2013. (2)By consent, order that costs of the motion be costs in the proceedings.