Northern Sydney Local Health District v SM

The Court of Appeal of New South Wales considered an application by the Northern Sydney Local Health District to dismiss an appeal filed by SM. The dispute arose from a primary judge's decision that SM was a mentally ill person and that no care of a less restrictive kind was appropriate, following SM's detention under the *Mental Health Act 2007* (NSW).

The central legal issue before the Court of Appeal was whether the appeal involved a civil right amounting to or of the value of $100,000 or more, which is a jurisdictional prerequisite for an appeal to the Court of Appeal under the relevant legislation.

White JA reasoned that the appeal did not involve a civil right of the requisite value. The court determined that the detention of a person under the *Mental Health Act 2007* (NSW) did not give rise to a civil right that could be quantified in monetary terms for the purposes of establishing the court's jurisdiction. Consequently, the appeal was found to be incompetent.

The Court of Appeal ordered that the notice of appeal filed by SM be dismissed as incompetent and that SM pay the Northern Sydney Local Health District's costs of the notice of motion.