Snell v State of Victoria (Department of Education and Training)

The applicant, who has claimed to have various disabilities, filed an originating application seeking declaratory relief and damages for alleged breaches of the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Cth) by the respondent, the State of Victoria (Department of Education and Training). The applicant had alleged that he was subjected to direct disability discrimination while attending a school operated by the respondent. The parties had a protracted procedural history, including disputes over the applicant's pleading. The matter was referred to mediation, but it did not resolve. The applicant later sought to include a new common law claim for damages in his pleading. The respondent requested that the applicant serve a certificate of assessment pursuant to s 28LT of the Wrongs Act 1958 (Vic) ('certificate of assessment') in respect of this new claim, but the applicant failed to do so. The applicant subsequently submitted that a certificate of assessment was not required. The respondent disagreed, and the Court made orders providing for the exchange of written submissions on the issue. The legal issue before the Court was whether s 28LC(2)(a) of the Wrongs Act 1958 (Vic) precluded the application of Part VBA of that Act to the applicant's proposed common law claim for damages for non-economic loss. The Court found that the applicant's reliance on a previous case, Thompson, was misconceived. The Court held that Part VBA of the Wrongs Act applied to the applicant's common law claim for damages for non-economic loss, and that the applicant was obliged to serve the respondent with a copy of a certificate of assessment in conformity with s 28LT of the Wrongs Act. The Court made orders requiring the parties to file and serve minutes of the orders they sought and for a case management hearing.