Groundwater v Territory Insurance Office

FEDERAL MAGISTRATES COURT OF AUSTRALIA

GROUNDWATER v TERRITORY INSURANCE OFFICE [2004] FMCA 381

HUMAN RIGHTS – PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE – DISABILITY DISCRIMINATION – Representation of a party by an unqualified person – whether leave should be given to permit such representation.

Disability Discrimination Act
Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Act
Federal Magistrates Court Act

Purcell & Rix No.1 [2002] FMCAfam 65

Damjanovic v Maley Unreported No. 230 of 2002 delivered 19 July 2002

Applicant: IAN EDWARD GROUNDWATER

Respondent: TERRITORY INSURANCE OFFICE

File No: DZ15 of 2003

Delivered on: 2 April 2004

Delivered at: Darwin

Hearing date: 17 March 2004

Judgment of: Brown FM

REPRESENTATION

Appearance for the Applicant: Mr John Groundwater sought leave to appear on behalf of the applicant

Counsel for the Respondent: Mr Grant

Solicitors for the Respondent: Hunt and Hunt
Barristers & Solicitors

ORDERS

1. That the application by Mr John Groundwater to appear as either litigation guardian or lay counsel on behalf of Mr Ian Groundwater is dismissed.  Mr John Groundwater is given conditional leave to appear at future directions hearings to advise the Court how Mr Ian Groundwater proposes to appear in the matter.

2. That the matter is listed for further directions on 14 May 2004 at 9.30am in order to ascertain how the applicant intends to prosecute his application.

FEDERAL MAGISTRATES
COURT OF AUSTRALIA AT
DARWIN

DZ15 of 2003

IAN EDWARD GROUNDWATER

Applicant

And

TERRITORY INSURANCE OFFICE

Respondent

REASONS FOR JUDGMENT

(Delivered ex tempore and corrected from the transcript)

1. The matter today is an unusual one.  The applicant in the proceedings is Ian Edward Groundwater and the respondent is the Territory Insurance Office.  In order to explain the reasons behind the orders I am going to make today, it is necessary to briefly outline the circumstances, which bring the matter to Court.  Those circumstances are complicated and extend over many years.  At this stage it is important that I point out to the parties that I am attempting to summarise these various matters.  I am not making findings of fact about them and the background is provided as a synopsis only to put the orders which will be made today into context.  These orders relate to an application brought by the applicant’s father John Groundwater (Mr Groundwater Senior) to act as legal counsel on behalf of the applicant or failing that as his litigation guardian.  Mr Groundwater Senior is not legally qualified.

2. In 1990, whilst he was in the employ of the Northern Territory Conservation Commission, the applicant injured his back at work.  The Conservation Commission held worker's compensation insurance with the respondent, the Territory Insurance Office.  A claim was made by the Conservation Commission for worker's compensation payments in respect of the applicant's claim for injury and this claim was initially accepted.  So in general terms, the Territory Insurance Office agreed to indemnify the Conservation Commission in respect of its liability to pay wages and medical expenses to Mr Groundwater, which flowed from his work related injury. 

3. After the injury, Mr Groundwater was…