Crvenkovic v La Trobe University

Crvenkovic brought an action against La Trobe University alleging disability discrimination under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Cth). The dispute was heard and determined in the Federal Circuit Court of Australia. The court was tasked with deciding whether the applicant could present evidence of acts or omissions by the respondent after a specific date, 28 February 2008, which were said to constitute unlawful disability discrimination.

The legal issues before the court involved the scope and limitation of evidence that could be presented in proceedings related to disability discrimination. Specifically, the court needed to determine if the applicant could lead evidence about events occurring after a particular date, which was outside the period covered by the initial complaint. The court had to consider whether such evidence was relevant and whether it should be admitted to establish a pattern of discriminatory conduct or to provide context to the events that were within the allowable timeframe.

The court ruled that the applicant could not lead evidence about any acts or omissions by the respondent after 28 February 2008. The court found that such evidence was not relevant to the issues in dispute and was therefore inadmissible. The court also ordered that the applicant pay the respondent’s costs associated with the preliminary issue. This decision was based on the principle that evidence of events outside the relevant timeframe could not be used to establish a pattern of discriminatory conduct or to provide context for the events that were within the allowable period. The court's reasoning emphasised the importance of maintaining the integrity and focus of discrimination proceedings by limiting the scope of admissible evidence to that which is directly relevant to the issues in dispute.