Peou v Cabana Home Units Pty Ltd [2014] NSWSC 1953

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Peou v Cabana Home Units Pty Ltd [2014] NSWSC 1953 Hearing dates: 27 June 2014 Date of orders: 27 June 2014 Decision date: 27 June 2014 Jurisdiction: Common Law Before: Garling J Decision: Dismiss the Notice of Motion of 16/5/14 Catchwords: PROCEDURE – civil – r 31.20 and r 31.26 UCPR – application to prevent plaintiff relying upon expert evidence – three joint reports from separate conclaves already prepared – whether new expert evidence will affect existing reports – not just to deprive plaintiff of adducing further evidence – no delay to proceedings – application dismissed Legislation Cited: Civil Procedure Act 2005 Evidence Act 1995 Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 Cases Cited: Not Applicable Texts Cited: Not Applicable Category: Procedural and other rulings Parties: C Peou (P) Cabana Home Units Pty Ltd (D) Representation: Counsel: In person (P) S Dixon (D) File Number(s): 2010/356917 Publication restriction: Not Applicable

_________________________________________________________

EX TEMPORE Judgment

Notice of Motion 1. This is an application by Notice of Motion by the defendant which was filed on 16 May 2014. Putting it shortly the orders were directed through the prism of r 31.,20 and r 31.,26 of the Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 ("UCPR"), to obtain orders which prevented the plaintiff from relying upon expert evidence, the substance of which is set out in a report of Mr Evan Smith of GHD Pty Limited dated 1 April 2014 ("the Smith Report"). 2. The principal basis for the objection to the plaintiff being able to rely upon the Smith Report is that, a joint report dated 5 May 2013 from experts retained by both the plaintiff and the defendant has been completed dealing with air quality issues, which is the subject of the Smith Report. 3. In order to determine the notice of motion a little background is necessary.