Tregelles-Fox v WorkCover Queensland

SUPREME COURT OF QUEENSLAND

CITATION:

Tregelles-Fox v WorkCover Queensland [2010] QSC 288

PARTIES:

PAUL JOHN TREGELLES-FOX
(plaintiff)
v
WORKCOVER QUEENSLAND
(defendant)

FILE NO:

BS 12252 of 2008

DIVISION:

Trial Division

PROCEEDING:

Application

ORIGINATING COURT:

Supreme Court of Queensland

DELIVERED ON:

6 August 2010

DELIVERED AT:

Brisbane

HEARING DATE:

6 May 2010

JUDGE:

Daubney J

ORDER:

1.    The application is dismissed.

2.    I will hear the parties as to costs.

CATCHWORDS:

LIMITATION OF ACTIONS – EXTENSION OR POSTPONEMENT OF LIMITATION PERIODS – EXTENSION OF TIME IN PERSONAL INJURIES MATTERS – GENERALLY – where the plaintiff has applied for an extension of the limitation period relating to his claim for personal injuries said to have been suffered in a workplace incident in 1979 – where the plaintiff submits that he ought to have an extension of time as a material fact of a decisive character only came within his knowledge when he received a specialist’s report in July 2008 – whether the limitation period ought to be extended

Limitations of Actions Act 1974, Qld, ss 30, 31
Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 1999 (Qld), r 428

Baillie v Creber [2010] QSC 52, cited
Brisbane South Regional Health Authority v Taylor (1996) 186 CLR 541, cited
Gillespie v Swift Australia Pty Ltd [2009] QCA 316, cited Healy v Femdale [1993] QCA 210, applied
Kambarbakis v G & L Scaffold Contracting Pty Ltd [2008] QCA 262 , cited
Moriarty v Sunbeam Corporation Ltd [1988] 2 Qd R 325, cited
NF v State of Queensland [2005] QCA 110, cited
Spain v Dipompo Jacs Constructions Pty Ltd [2009] QCA 323, cited
Van der Merwe v Arnotts Biscuits [2010] QSC 145, cited
Watters v Queensland Rail [2001] 1 Qd R 448; [2000] QCA 51, cited

COUNSEL:

E Mac Giolla Ri for the plaintiff
R Morton for the defendant

SOLICITORS:

Ryan Lawyers for the plaintiff
Corrs Chambers Westgarth for the defendant

1. The plaintiff has applied under s 31 of the Limitation of Actions Act 1974 (“LAA”) for an extension of the limitation period relating to his claim for personal injuries said to have been suffered in a workplace incident on 29 November 1979.  The extension sought is to 12 months after 21 June 2008.

1. The plaintiff’s claim and statement of claim were filed on 4 December 2008.  He seeks damages for “negligence and/or breach of contract” by his employer.  In brief, the statement of claim alleges the following:

(a)That as at 29 November 1979 the plaintiff was employed by ANI Sargeants as a mechanic;

(b)That he was required to carry out his employment at construction sites and at his employer’s premises;

(c)That on 29 November 1979, while working at his employer’s Sherwood plant, he was instructed to undertake work on a Coles crane and, while doing so, a co-worker slewed the crane, causing the plaintiff to trip on welding leads and fall about 14 feet to the concrete floor;

(d)That as a result of this incident the plaintiff suffered…