This site consists of case excerpts, journal articles and reference sources which have been of relevance to me over my practice as a barrister
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Secretary Department of Communities and Justice v Soulos [2026] NSWCA 185 The respondent was a caseworker employed by the appellant, the Department of Communities and Justice (the DCJ). In 2017, a 14-year-old boy (YP) came under the respondent’s responsibility. In May 2019, a one of…
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Preliminary discovery
[43] Determination of an application for preliminary discovery under UCPR r 5.3 does not involve determination of the merits of any claim for relief an applicant might propound: O’Connor v O’Connor [2018] NSWCA 214 at [76]. Such applications are summary in nature and not mini-trials, and…
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Denial of procedural fairness
The primary judge’s conclusions as to the cause of Mr Kedwell’s injury were arrived at through his own analysis. They were not based on any expert evidence and were not reflective of any submission made to him. If that was the basis…
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Cullen v New South Wales
in Duty of CareCullen v NSW [2026] HCA 19 In a paradigm case of physical injury suffered by a plaintiff as a result of the defendant taking some positive action, the class of persons to whom the defendant owes a duty of care…
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Careless acts and careless omissions: the distinction in tort
in Duty of CareAlthough the distinction may at times be difficult to draw, there is an important difference in tort law between "careless acts causing personal injury, for which the law generally imposes liability, and careless omissions to prevent acts [by a third…
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State of New South Wales v Fahy
in PoliceState of New South Wales v Fahy [2006] NSWCA 64 [33] Attention might have been directed to whether the Crown was the employer for the purposes of determining the safety of conditions of employment. Section 6 of the Vicarious Liability…
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Vozza v Tooth: proof of an alternative system of work
in NegligenceVozza v Tooth (1964) 112 CLR 316 For a plaintiff to succeed it must appear, by direct evidence or by reasonable inference from the evidence, that the defendant unreasonably failed to take measures or adopt means, reasonably open to him…
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Ridis v Strata Plan 10308
Ridis v Strata Plan 10308 [2005] NSWCA 246; (2005) 63 NSWLR 449 Since the board is comprised, presumably, of ordinary lot owners the test for what they will foresee about the condition of the stairs and what they might do…
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Mendez v Trustees of the Roman Catholic Church for the Diocese of Parramatta
Mendez v Trustees of the Roman Catholic Church for the Diocese of Parramatta [2026] NSWSC 873 The applicable principles which inform my deliberation were considered by Wilson J in TS v The State of New South Wales [2021] NSWSC 1649…
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Electric Power Transmission Pty Ltd v Cuiuli
in Negligence(1961) 104 CLR 177 Kitto J: When I am asked to hold that a jury may reasonably think it negligent of an employer not to give a grown man instructions in looking after himself while cutting pieces of bush timber…