Goryl v Greyhound Australia

[1993] HCATrans 110

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IN THE HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA

Office of the Registry

Brisbane No B61 of 1992

B e t w e e n -

MARGARET ROSE GORYL

Applicant

and

GREYHOUND AUSTRALIA PTY LIMITED

First Respondent

and

SUNCORP INSURANCE AND FINANCE

Second Respondent

For directions

MASON CJ

Goryl(2) 1 5/5/93

(In Chambers)

TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS

AT SYDNEY ON WEDNESDAY, 5 MAY 1993, AT 10.19 AM

Copyright in the High Court of Australia

MR P.J. HAYES:  May it please, Your Honour, I appear on

behalf of the applicant.	(instructed by Hayes &
Co)

MR P.L. O'SHEA: If it please the Court, I appear on behalf

of the respondents.	(instructed by Quinlan Millar
& Treston)

MASON CJ:  Mr Hayes.

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MR HAYES:  Your Honour, the matter is before you this

morning for directions, with an order for removal

having been made by the Court in Brisbane on

5 March this year.

Your Honour, on that occasion there were some

outstanding matters regarding the amendment of the

pleadings in respect of that part of the cause

being removed into this Court. Your Honour, those

amendments have now been completed by the applicant
and a statement of issues has also been prepared

and my friend and I have agreed upon a timetable to

take into account certain responses to those

amendments to the pleadings to be made by the

respondents and, finally, an amended statement of

issues which thereafter the parties would be in a

position to approach the Registrar for a date for

hearing subject, of course, Your Honour, to the

Court's determination as to whether it might have a

contrary view as to how the matter proceeds.

Your Honour, I have short minutes prepared

which I hand up for Your Honour's reference.

HIS HONOUR:  Yes, thank you. Mr Hayes, there are two things

that occur to me. Is it correct that upon the

removal of the proceedings into this Court we

continue to apply the procedure of the District

Court of Queensland?	By that, I mean is it
appropriate to treat the plaintiff's pleading as an

amended plaint?

MR HAYES:  I would submit that it would be so, Your Honour,

for this reason: the matter was commenced by way
of summons and as the matter will ultimately be
then either disposed of or, in the event of the
applicant being successful, remitted to the

District Court at Brisbane, the matter would, if it falls within the Court's discretion, be convenient

to proceed on the District Court pleadings. It is

submitted that that might be the more convenient

course to adopt.

HIS HONOUR:  Yes, and ultimately it may result in a judgment

in the District Court in any event because it is

Goryl(2) 2 5/5/93

unlikely that this Court will see the entire

proceedings through to completion in this Court.

MR HAYES: That would be so, Your Honour, yes.

HIS HONOUR:  Now, the other thing is this: this procedure

calls for an identification of the issues at a

later stage; what might be described as an almost

automatic identification of the issues at a later

stage.

MR HAYES:	Yes, Your Honour.
HIS HONOUR:	And the matter thereupon being set down for

hearing. It seems to me that it would be

appropriate to reserve an opportunity for the Court
to consider whether, in the circumstances, the

statement of issues that has been thrown up by

virtue of compliance with this procedure is an

appropriate statement of issues.

MR HAYES: If Your Honour pleases.

HIS HONOUR:  Mr O'Shea, do you wish to say anything about

the procedure and the short minutes of order?

MR O'SHEA:  No, Your Honour. I have no objection to the

course which Your Honour identified. Your Honour,

in relation to the earlier matter which Your Honour

raised, I certainly have no objection to this

procedure being followed and it does seem the

simpler procedure. It may, however, be appropriate
for Your Honour to indicate that because it does

seem to me that in the absence of some order by

Your Honour, the matter has been removed into the

High Court and there is now nothing in the

District Court. But, from a practical point of

view, I agree with my friend's suggestions.

HIS HONOUR:  Yes. But is it not sufficient if I were to

make orders in terms of the short minutes of order,

minutes of order clearly indicate that there is to because if I did that then paragraph 1 of the short	be an amended plaint in accordance with the
District Court procedure?

MR O'SHEA: That is probably so, Your Honour. It raises

another question as to where these amended

pleadings are to be filed. Are they to be filed in

the District Court or in the Brisbane office.

HIS HONOUR:  No, they are to be filed here because the

proceedings are removed in this Court and, in a

sense, the entirety of the proceedings is now in

this Court until such time as some order is made

remitting any part of them or the balance of them

to the District Court for completion.

Goryl(2) 5/5/93

MR O'SHEA:  Thank you, Your Honour. Your Honour, the next

question is - I am sorry, I should not be asking

questions of Your Honour.

HIS HONOUR: Well, you should only not be asking them

because I may not be able to answer them.

MR O'SHEA:  Your Honour, it is a very pragmatic question,

but how should the pleadings be entitled? Should

they have both the High Court title and the

District Court title?

HIS HONOUR:  I. think it might be desirable to speak to the

Registrar about that. Mr Ryan, can you throw any

light on that in terms - - -

ACTING DEPUTY REGISTRAR:  I would have thought that it

proceeded in terms of the High Court.

HIS HONOUR:  That is what I would have thought, but what you

might do is consult with Mr Deputy Registrar Ryan
because we can look through former precedents in

the Registry here and confirm that that is a

correct answer. So, I suggest you communicate with

Mr Ryan, say, in 24 hours time - tomorrow. In the meantime, he will have had an opportunity of

consulting with the Registrar and looking through

previous files, and he will be able to confirm

whether the answer we are now giving to you is

correct.

MR O'SHEA:	Thank you, Your Honour.
HIS HONOUR:	But I would think that it is in the High Court, without any reference to the District Court.

Now, I am prepared to make an order in terms

of the short minutes of order, but I suggest that

paragraph 6 of the short minutes of order should be

amended so that it reads:

Upon the parties complying with directions 1

to 5 above, the matter is to be restored to

the list before the Chief Justice.

And then we can review at that stage whether the statement of issues is appropriate without more for determination by the High Court.

So subject to that amendment, I make orders in

terms of the short minutes of order which I shall

initial and date, and place with the papers.

MR HAYES:	May it please the Court.
MR O'SHEA:	Your Honour, can I raise one other matter?

Goryl(2) 4 5/5/93

HIS HONOUR:	Yes.
MR O'SHEA:	Would Your Honour be prepared to certify for

counsel?

HIS HONOUR:  Yes, I will certify for counsel.

AT 10.28 AM THE MATTER WAS ADJOURNED SINE DIE

Goryl(2) 5 5/5/93