State of New South Wales v LSR3

The State of New South Wales appealed an interlocutory decision of the Supreme Court of New South Wales, which declined to order that certain questions be determined separately. The dispute concerned applications made by the plaintiff, LSR3, under Part 1C of the *Civil Liability Act 2002* (NSW) to set aside settlement agreements reached in two prior proceedings. These prior proceedings involved claims for damages for personal injury arising from historical child abuse, and had been settled by the State of New South Wales. The plaintiff sought to have these settlement agreements set aside as part of their current claim for damages.

The central legal issue before the Court of Appeal was whether the applications to set aside the settlement agreements, made pursuant to Part 1C of the *Civil Liability Act 2002* (NSW), were required by statute to be determined separately from the hearing of the underlying claim for damages. This involved the interpretation of Part 1C of the *Civil Liability Act 2002* (NSW) and its interaction with rule 28.2 of the Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 (NSW), which permits the separate determination of questions.

The Court of Appeal held that there was no error of principle in the primary judge's decision not to order separate questions. The Court reasoned that Part 1C of the *Civil Liability Act 2002* (NSW) did not mandate a separate determination of applications to set aside "affected agreements" prior to the final hearing of the underlying claim. The Court found that the applications to set aside the agreements were not a procedural prerequisite that had to be resolved before the substantive claim could proceed, but rather were part of the overall litigation.

Consequently, the Court of Appeal dismissed the State of New South Wales' application for leave to appeal, with costs.