FETU and NORTHERN IRON AND BRASS FOUNDRY PTY LTD

[2013] QDC 93

[2013] QDC 93

DISTRICT COURT

CIVIL JURISDICTION

JUDGE ROBIN QC

No 1092 of 2011

SAMULEU FETU	Plaintiff
and
NORTHERN IRON AND BRASS FOUNDRY PTY LTD	Defendant

BRISBANE

..DATE 08/04/2013

ORDER

CATCHWORDS

Leave to plaintiff to amend claim and statement of claim to include a psychiatric injury notwithstanding he had signed the Request for Trial Date

Uniform Civil Procedure Rules - R470
HIS HONOUR:  The court makes an order in terms of the initialled draft pursuant to rule 470 and grants leave to the plaintiff to amend his claim and statement and claim to include a psychiatric injury which is associated with a physical injury in a work accident to his shoulder.

That psychiatric injury has been accepted by WorkCover and it would unjust in the extreme to preclude the plaintiff from having it included in this proceeding.

Before coming to court, I scrutinised the annotations in the LexisNexis annotated UCPR. As one would expect, it is clear that the courts take seriously their responsibility to ensure that at a late stage in a proceeding changes are not made to the claim of the kind encountered here. That might be productive of inconvenience and injustice.

Mr Roche confirms that the potential for a psychiatric injury or overlay has been known about for some time.  So it is appropriate that the leave be given.

Order as per initialled draft.

...

HIS HONOUR: I might say that, as the submission records, the request for trial date was filed on 6 February 2013. It was only 15 days after that that WorkCover Queensland consented to including the unassessed psychological injury as an injury for the purposes of section 32 of the Workers' Compensation and Rehabilitation Act 2003. It is unlikely there has been any element of surprise or inconvenience here.

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