Bushby v The Nominal Defendant [2019] NSWDC 733

District Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Bushby v The Nominal Defendant [2019] NSWDC 733 Hearing dates: 24-27 September 2019; 12 November 2019 (last written submissions); 21 November 2019 (oral submissions) Date of orders: 04 December 2019 Decision date: 04 December 2019 Jurisdiction: Civil Before: Dicker SC DCJ Decision: (1) Judgment for the plaintiff. (2) The defendant is to pay the plaintiff's costs of the proceedings as agreed or assessed. (3) Liberty to the parties to seek a different costs order to (2) above within 14 days. (4) The parties are to bring in agreed short minutes of order reflecting the reasons for decision and the agreed deduction for contributory negligence. (5) Liberty to apply to the Associate to Dicker DCJ to relist the matter if agreement cannot be reached as to the appropriate orders or if there need to be corrections to the calculations. Catchwords: Torts – negligence – motor vehicle accident – liability not in dispute and contributory negligence percentage agreed – extent of the plaintiff's injuries arising from the accident – voluminous medical opinions expressing different views – domestic assistance – childcare assistance - loss of future earning capacity Legislation Cited: Civil Liability Act 2002 (NSW) Motor Accidents Compensation Act 1999 (NSW) Cases Cited: Allianz Australia Insurance Ltd v Kerr [2012] NSWCA 13 Sretenovic v Reed [2009] NSWCA 280 White v Benjamin [2015] NSWCA 75 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Ronald Noel Bushby (Plaintiff) The Nominal Defendant (Defendant) Representation: Counsel: K Andrews (Plaintiff) J Catsanos SC (Defendant)