Dedula v State of New South Wales [2017] NSWDC 104

District Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Dedula v State of New South Wales [2017] NSWDC 104 Hearing dates: 9, 10 and 11 May 2017 Date of orders: 12 May 2017 Decision date: 12 May 2017 Jurisdiction: Civil Before: P Taylor SC DCJ Decision: (1) Leave to amend the defence refused. (2) Defendant's notice of motion filed 10 May 2017 dismissed. Catchwords: PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE – application to amend defence – application to strike out parts of statement of claim – issue estoppel – earlier criminal proceedings – earlier apprehended violence order Legislation Cited: Civil Liability Act 2002, s 54 Crimes (Domestic and Personal Violence) Act 2007, s 16 Law Reform (Vicarious Liability) Act 1983, s 9B Cases Cited: Blair v Curran (1939) 62 CLR 464 Cassegrain v Gerard Cassegrain & Co Pty Limited [2013] NSWCA 454 State of New South Wales v Williams [2014] NSWCA 177 Category: Procedural and other rulings Parties: Wallace Leon Dedula (plaintiff) State of New South Wales (defendant) Representation: Counsel: Mr J Sheller (plaintiff) Mr P Menzies QC and Ms P McEniery (defendant)

Solicitors: Shad Partners (plaintiff) Crown Solicitor's Office (defendant) File Number(s): 2013/245294 Publication restriction: None

Judgment

A. Introduction 1. Wallace Dedula was arrested and charged with assaults and other offences. Ultimately the charges were either dismissed or withdrawn. He sues the State of New South Wales ("the State") for wrongful arrest and malicious prosecution. 2. On the first day of trial, the State applied to amend its defence to plead an issue estoppel and strike out those paragraphs of the Amended Statement of Claim which assert a claim contrary to the alleged estoppel.