Chapman v Dickinson

Chapman v Dickinson was an application for a separate trial of certain issues in a personal injury action filed in the Local Court of New South Wales. The plaintiff, Chapman, sought damages against Dickinson for personal injuries sustained in a car accident. Dickinson sought to separate the trial of the issue as to whether Chapman was a worker or deemed worker under the Workers Compensation Acts. The court had to determine if the criteria for ordering a separate trial were satisfied, particularly whether the issue was severable from the main proceedings.

The court considered whether the criteria for ordering a separate trial under r 28.2 of the Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 (NSW) were met. The court noted that there were no agreed facts and the issue was not suited to severability. The court found that the plaintiff's application for a separate trial did not meet the criteria for ordering a separate trial. The court held that the plaintiff's application for a separate trial was dismissed.

The court ordered that the defendants’ amended notice of motion filed on 19 October 2018 be dismissed. The court also ordered that the defendants pay the plaintiff’s costs. The court granted liberty to apply in relation to costs and directed the parties to bring in short minutes of order for the future conduct of these proceedings.