Bimson, Roads & Maritime Services v Damorange Pty Ltd [2014] NSWSC 734

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Bimson, Roads & Maritime Services v Damorange Pty Ltd [2014] NSWSC 734 Hearing dates: 29 May 2014 Decision date: 30 May 2014 Jurisdiction: Common Law Before: Beech-Jones J Decision: The appeal is dismissed. Catchwords: APPEAL - road safety offences - appeal to Supreme Court from sentence imposed by Local Court - appeal restricted to a ground that involves a question of law alone - scope of appeal - necessity to identify question of law in abstract terms - alleged manifest inadequacy in sentence does not raise question of law alone - use of transcript of exchanges between counsel and the Bench to contradict sentencing judgment - misapprehension of jurisdictional limit of Local Court immaterial to sentence imposed - error in relation to maximum sentence for some offences - raises question of law - scope of discretion conferred by s 59(b) of Crimes (Appeal and Review) Act 2001 - error solely caused by statement to the Court by prosecutor - whether Court should consider "merits" of sentence when exercising discretion not to intervene. Legislation Cited: - Crimes (Appeal and Review) Act 2001 (NSW), s 56, s 59 - Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 (NSW) - Criminal Appeal Act 1912 (NSW), s 5, s 5D - Road Transport (General) Act 2005 (NSW) s 6, s 178 - Road Transport (General) Amendment (Heavy Vehicle Driver Fatigue and Speeding Compliance) Regulation 2008 (NSW), reg 156 - Road Transport (General) Regulation 2005 (NSW), reg 156 - Road Transport Legislation Amendment Act 2008 (NSW), s 11C - Road Transport (Safety and Traffic Management) Act 1999 (NSW), s 6, s 69A, s 69C, Div 2A - Road Transport (Safety and Traffic Management) Regulation 1999 (NSW), reg 139 - Supreme Court Act 1970 (NSW), 75A Cases Cited: - Australian Broadcasting Tribunal v Bond [1990] HCA 33; 170 CLR 321 - Barbaro v R [2014] HCA 2 - David Morse (Office of the State Revenue) v Chan [2010] NSWSC 1290 - DPP v Wunderwald [2004] NSWSC 182 - HIA Insurance Services Pty Ltd v Kostas [2009] NSWCA 292 - Hili v R [2010] HCA 45; 242 CLR 520 - House v R [1936] HCA 40; 55 CLR 499 - Kostas v HIA Insurance Services Pty Ltd [2010] HCA 32; 241 CLR 390 - Markarian v R [2005] HCA 25; 228 CLR 357 - Maurici v Chief Commissioner of State Revenue [2001] NSWCA 78, 51 NSWLR 673 - R v Allpass (1993) 72 A Crim R 561 - R v Jermyn (1985) 2 NSWLR 194 - R v Jessop [1974] Tas SR 64 - R v JW [2010] NSWCCA 49; 77 NSWLR 7 - R v PL [2009] NSWCCA 256 - R v PL [2012] NSWCCA 31 - Roads and Traffic Authority of New South Wales v Fletcher International Exports Pty Ltd [2008] NSWSC 936 - Thaina Town (On Goulburn) Pty Ltd v City of Sydney Council [2007] NSWCA 300; 71 NSWLR 230 - Williams v R [1986] HCA 88; 161 CLR 278 Texts Cited: - Mark Aronson and Matthew Groves Judicial Review of Administrative Action (Thomson Reuters, 5th ed, 2013) Category: Principal judgment Parties: Paul Bimson, Roads and Maritime Services (Plaintiff) Damorange Pty Ltd (First Defendant) Lawrence Shane Splatt (Second Defendant) Scott Splatt (Third Defendant) Representation: Counsel: M.G. Higgins (Plaintiff) B.D. Hodgkinson SC, T.D. Anderson (Defendants) Solicitors: Henry Davis York (Plaintiff) Holman Webb Lawyers (Defendants) File Number(s): 2013/318029