Burton v The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions [2019] NSWDC 120

District Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Burton v The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions [2019] NSWDC 120 Hearing dates: 26 March 2019 Date of orders: 12 April 2019 Decision date: 12 April 2019 Jurisdiction: Civil Before: Hatzistergos DCJ Decision: The proceedings are dismissed pursuant to UCPR 13.4(1) The Plaintiff is to pay the Defendant's costs. Catchwords: ESTOPPEL – Issue estoppel – Whether judicial review of Local Court determination amounted to an estoppel

TORTS – Miscellaneous torts – Collateral abuse of process – Whether initiating criminal proceedings without reasonable and probable cause constituted a collateral and improper purpose

CIVIL PROCEDURE – Summary disposal – Dismissal of proceedings – No reasonable cause of action disclosed Legislation Cited: Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Act 1998 (NSW) Court Suppression and Non Publication Orders Act 2010 (NSW) Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 (NSW) Cases Cited: A v State of New South Wales at (2007) 230 CLR 500 Burton v Local Court of New South Wales [2019] NSWSC 191 Butler v Simmonds Crowley & Galvin [2000] 2 Qd R 252 Blair v Curran (1939) 62 CLR 464 Carl Zeiss Stiftung v Rayner & Keeler Ltd [No 2] [1967] 1 AC 853 Farah Constructions Pty Ltd v Say-Dee Pty Ltd (2007) 230 CLR 89 Kable v New South Wales [2012] NSWCA 243 Kuligowski v Metrobus (2004) 220 CLR 363 Maxwell-Smith v S & E Hall Pty Ltd [2014] NSWCA 146 Spencer v Commonwealth of Australia (2010) 241 CLR 118 Tomlinson v Ramsey Food Processing Pty Ltd (2015) 256 CLR 507 Williams v Spautz (1992) 174 CLR 509 Texts Cited: JD Heydon, Cross on Evidence (11th ed, Lexis Nexis, 2017) John Tarrant, Amending Final Orders and Judgments (Federation Press 2010) Category: Principal judgment Parties: Paul Robert Burton (Plaintiff) Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (Defendant) Representation: Counsel: Mr E.Chrysostomou