Tran v Nominal Defendant

The appeal in *Tran v Nominal Defendant* concerned a plaintiff injured in a motorcycle accident who alleged the accident was caused by an unidentified vehicle. The primary judge had rejected the plaintiff's account of the accident and instead accepted the evidence of an independent witness. The plaintiff appealed this decision to the Court of Appeal of New South Wales.

The central legal issues before the Court of Appeal were whether the primary judge had erred in their findings of fact, specifically in rejecting the plaintiff's version of events and accepting the independent witness's account. The court also considered whether a police diagram, relied upon by the primary judge, had been improperly used as direct evidence and whether it constituted an admissible business record under the *Evidence Act 1995* (NSW).

The Court of Appeal found no error in the primary judge's fact-finding process. It held that the primary judge was entitled to prefer the independent witness's evidence over the plaintiff's, and that the findings were not glaringly improbable or contrary to any compelling inference. The court also determined that the police diagram was not used impermissibly as direct evidence and that, even if it were considered a business record, its admission did not lead to an error of law. Consequently, the appeal was dismissed.