Bradley v Placements (PNG) Ltd

SUPREME COURT OF QUEENSLAND

CITATION:

Bradley v Placements (PNG) Ltd [2014] QSC 16

PARTIES:

CHRISTOPHER LEE BRADLEY
(plaintiff)
v
PLACEMENTS (PNG) LTD
(defendant)

FILE NO:

10682 of 2013

DIVISION:

Trial  Division

PROCEEDING:

Application

ORIGINATING COURT:

Supreme Court of Queensland

DELIVERED ON:

27 February 2014

DELIVERED AT:

Brisbane

HEARING DATE:

12 February 2014

JUDGE:

Daubney J

ORDER:

1.     The application filed 20 December 2013 is dismissed;

2.     I will hear the parties as to costs and with respect to any further orders or directions.

CATCHWORDS:

PROCEDURE – SUPREME COURT PROCEDURE – QUEENSLAND – JURISDICTION AND GENERALLY – GENERALLY – where plaintiff claims damages for personal injury in course of employment – where defendant is employer – where defendant is a company incorporated in Papua New Guinea – where sole basis of defendant’s application is that proceeding should be stayed or dismissed on the basis that the Supreme Court of Queensland is a forum non conveniens – whether the proceeding should be stayed or dismissed on the basis that the Supreme Court of Queensland is an inappropriate forum for the resolution of this dispute

Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 1999 (Qld), r 16

Henry v Henry (1961) CLR 571, followed
Placer (PNG) Pty Ltd v Anderson [1997] QCA 74, considered

COUNSEL:

J A Griffin QC, with him D H Katter, for the plaintiff
J H Davies for the defendant

SOLICITORS:

Smith Lawyers for the plaintiff
McCullough Robertson Lawyers for the defendant

1. By a claim and statement of claim filed on 12 November 2013, the plaintiff commenced this proceeding against the defendant, a company incorporated in Papua New Guinea, seeking damages for personal injuries said to have been suffered by the plaintiff in the course of his employment with the defendant. 

1. On 16 December 2013, the defendant filed a conditional notice of intention to defend.  The defendant now applies for an order pursuant to UCPR r 16 for the proceeding to be struck out or permanently stayed.

1. By his statement of claim, the plaintiff relevantly alleges:

(a)As at 3 December 2010, he was employed by the defendant as a gas compression supervisor in Papua New Guinea pursuant to a contract of employment made on 6 April 2010;

(b)On 3 December 2010, while the plaintiff was working at a specific site in Papua New Guinea, he was engaged in manually unloading a cylinder head, in the course of which he sustained an injury to his lower back;

(c)He performed the unloading of the cylinder head manually with a co-worker, one Roger Hereva;

(d)The injury to his lumbar spine at L4/5 and L5/S1 required a total disc replacement at L4/5 and a spinal fusion at L5/S1;

(e)The injury was caused by the negligence or breach of contract of the defendant (the statement of claim particularises the breaches of duty on which the plaintiff relies);

(f)The plaintiff claims damages for the personal injury and its consequences, totalling $1,244,432.

1. The only basis for the defendant’s present application is the forum non conveniens principle.  Counsel for the…