Attard v State of New South Wales [2020] NSWDC 148

District Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Attard v State of New South Wales [2020] NSWDC 148 Hearing dates: 23 April 2020 Date of orders: 29 April 2020 Decision date: 29 April 2020 Jurisdiction: Civil Before: Russell SC DCJ Decision: (1) Dismiss the plaintiff's Notice of Motion filed on 16 March 2020. (2) Order that the costs of the motion be costs in the cause. Catchwords: EVIDENCE – legal professional privilege – dominant purpose test – privilege claimed over school incident reports collected by school principal – reports created for the dominant purpose of defendant being provided with legal advice in relation to an anticipated court action – claim for privilege upheld Legislation Cited: Evidence Act 1995 (NSW) ss 117,119, 131A Cases Cited: Hunter New England Local Health District v Munters Pty Ltd [2018] NSWSC 788 Category: Procedural and other rulings Parties: Kasey Attard by his tutor Belinda Attard (Plaintiff) State of New South Wales (Defendant) Representation: Counsel: J Tryon (Plaintiff) G Sarginson (Defendant)

Solicitors: Emanuel Refenes Solicitor (Plaintiff) Wendy Blacker Lawyers (Defendant) File Number(s): 2019/191354

Judgment

Background 1. The plaintiff is a minor and his tutor is his mother. He sues the State of New South Wales which is legally liable for any negligence of the NSW Department of Education. By a Statement of Claim filed on 17 June 2019 the plaintiff alleges that he was injured in an incident at his school on 14 March 2018. He seeks damages for both physical and psychological injuries.