Gregory v Nominal Defendant

[2005] QSC 308

SUPREME COURT OF QUEENSLAND

CITATION:

Gregory v Nominal Defendant & Anor [2005] QSC 308

PARTIES:

PETER LEE GREGORY
(applicant/plaintiff)
v
THE NOMINAL DEFENDANT
(respondent/first defendant)
and
RENALDO MORELAND
(second defendant)

FILE NOS:

5656 of 2005
(Mt Isa Registry No S12 of 1999)

DIVISION:

Trial Division

PROCEEDING:

Application

DELIVERED ON:

11 August 2005

DELIVERED AT:

Brisbane

HEARING DATE:

22 July 2005

JUDGE:

Wilson J

ORDER:

(a)       That the application for sanction of the compromise be dismissed;

(b)      That there be judgment for the plaintiff for $411,480-00 (inclusive of all statutory refunds, administration charges and other items);

(c)       That the first defendant pay the plaintiff’s costs of and incidental to the proceeding, including the costs of this application and including reserved costs if any, to be assessed on the standard basis;

(d)      That the application for the appointment of the Public Trustee of Queensland as administrator of the settlement fund be transferred to the Guardianship and Administration Tribunal;

(e)       That enforcement of the judgment be stayed pending the Guardianship and Administration Tribunal’s determination of the application for the appointment of an administrator;

(f)       That the opinion of counsel be placed in an envelope to be sealed and marked “Not to be opened without an order of the Court”;

(g)       That there be liberty to apply.

CATCHWORDS:

MENTAL HEALTH – MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION OF PROPERTY – GENERAL MATTERS – where plaintiff sustained head and other injuries in a motor vehicle accident – where the parties have reached a settlement agreement – where the plaintiff requires assistance in fiscal management – whether plaintiff is “a person with impaired capacity for a matter within the meaning of the Guardianship and Administration Act 2000” - whether compromise of proceedings should be sanctioned – whether the Public Trustee should be appointed as the administrator of the settlement fund

Guardianship and Administration Act 2000 (Qld), ss10, 12, 245, sch 2 s 1, sch 4
Public Trustee Act1978 (Qld), ss59(1), 59(1A)

Foran v Jalbao Pty Limited [2001] QSC 042, cited
Grevett v McIntyre [2002] QSC 106, cited
Morris v Clair [2004] QSC 127, cited
Welland v Payne [2000] QSC 431, cited

COUNSEL:

KD Dorney QC for the applicant plaintiff

S Read (articled clerk, by leave) for the respondent first defendant

SOLICITORS:

VR Moffatt & Associates for the applicant plaintiff
Gadens Lawyers for the respondent first defendant

1. WILSON J: This is an application that the compromise of a proceeding be sanctioned and that the Public Trustee of Queensland be appointed as the administrator of the settlement fund pursuant to ss 245 and 12 of the Guardianship and Administration Act 2000.

1. The plaintiff was injured in a motor vehicle accident outside Doomadgee on 5 December 1992, when he was aged almost 14 years. In June 1999 he commenced this proceeding for damages for personal injuries. It has been compromised on terms that the first defendant pay him $411,480-00 (inclusive of all statutory refunds, administration charges and other items), together with costs to be assessed on…