Baranov v Morton

[2020] NSWDC 384

District Court

New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation:

Baranov v Morton [2020] NSWDC 384

Hearing dates:

13-15 May 2020

Date of orders:

19 May 2020

Decision date:

18 May 2020

Jurisdiction:

Civil

Before:

Neilson DCJ

Decision:

Verdict and judgment for the plaintiff against the defendant for $95,916.

Catchwords:

TORTS – FALSE IMPRISONMENT.

P arrested on two occasions, 7 January 2016 and 8 March 2016, on complaints made by D to police, which complaints were false. Whether D liable for the imprisonments. Whether D active in promoting and causing the arrests of P.

DAMAGES – Costs of defending charges laid by police not natural and probable consequence of the false imprisonments. Costs incurred in goading police to charge and prosecute D not natural and probable consequence of the false imprisonments. Claim for aggravated compensatory damages not pleaded or particularised. Claim for exemplary damages not particularised. Neither aggravated nor exemplary damages awarded.

Legislation Cited:

Crimes Act 1900

Migration Act 1958

Passenger Transport Regulation 2007

Cases Cited:

Aitken v Bedwell (1827) 173 ER 1084

Lassanah v State of NSW (No 3) [2010] NSWDC 241

Myers Ltd v Soo [1991] 2 VR 597

Re Patterson; Ex parte Taylor (2001) 207 CLR 391

Ruddock v Taylor [2003] NSWCA 262; (2003) 58 NSWLR 269

Ruddock et ors v Taylor [2005] HCA 48; (2005) 222 CLR 612

State of NSW v Cuthbertson [2018] NSWCA 320

State of NSW v Koumdjiev [2005] NSWCA 247; (2005) 63 NSWLR 353

Williams v Spautz (1992) 174 CLR 509

Texts Cited:

Trinidade et al., Law of Torts in Australia, Oxford University Press, 4th Ed. (2007)

Category:

Principal judgment

Parties:

Plaintiff – Edward Baranov
Defendant – Anastasia Morton

Representation:

Plaintiff – R. Chen (Counsel)
T. Stack (SS Lawyers)

Defendant – In person

File Number(s):

2019/00318642

Publication restriction:

Nil.

Judgment

1. HIS HONOUR: As I approach the 26th anniversary of my appointment to the Bench, I must observe that this is perhaps the most painfully contentious matter that I have been called upon to determine. The case has been marked by antagonism and bitterness between the plaintiff and the defendant, and the desire of each to denigrate the other. It has also been complicated by the fact that the defendant is unrepresented.

Whether the defendant can be liable for imprisonment by the police

2. The plaintiff’s causes of action are in the tort of false imprisonment. The plaintiff was imprisoned on 7 January 2016 and also on 8 March 2016 as a result of complaints made by the defendant to the NSW Police. The actual detention of the plaintiff was by the NSW Police, not the defendant. It is accordingly necessary to consider how the defendant might be liable to the plaintiff for the two false imprisonments alleged.

3. This takes me to the course of the litigation in Taylor v Ruddock. Graham Ernest Taylor was born in the United Kingdom in 1956. He came to Australia with his family in 1966 at the age of nine. He had never applied under…