WorkCover Queensland v Collett

DISTRICT COURT OF QUEENSLAND

CITATION:

WorkCover Queensland v. Collett [2000] QDC 322

PARTIES:

WORKCOVER QUEENSLAND (Plaintiff/Respondent)
v.
STANLEY WILLIAM COLLETT (First Defendant)
And
WENDY FAITH COLLETT (Second Defendant/Appellant)

FILE NO/S:

Appeal 2219 of 1999
Plaint 20659 of 1998

DIVISION:

PROCEEDING:

Appeal

ORIGINATING COURT:

Magistrates Court Brisbane

DELIVERED ON:

3 November 2000

DELIVERED AT:

Brisbane

HEARING DATE:

6 September 2000

JUDGE:

McGill DCJ

ORDER:

Appeal allowed; judgment set aside; summons dismissed; appellant to have unconditional leave to defend; respondent to pay appellant’s costs of the application in the sum of $304 and the appellant’s costs of the appeal to be assessed.

CATCHWORDS:

WORKERS COMPENSATION – insurance – premium – liability of employer to pay – whether person who is no longer employed liable if policy not renewed – Workers' Compensation Act 1990 s.44, 49; Workers Compensation Regulation 1992 s.14.

WORKERS COMPENSATION – Insurance – liability of employer for unpaid premium – whether defendant can dispute that he or she was an employer at the relevant time – WorkCover Queensland Act 1996 ss 58, 487, 490.

Ex Parte Workers' Compensation Board of Queensland [1982] Qd.R. 739 – cited
Re: K D Morris & Sons Pty Ltd [1978] Qd.R. 318 - cited
Rees v. State Government Insurance Office (Queensland) [1979] Qd.R. 369 – considered
State Government Insurance Office v. Rees (1979) 53 ALJR 752 - cited
Re: Hewson & Douglas Pty Ltd (No. 2) [1994] 1 Qd.R. 42 -
Considered
REB Engineering Pty Ltd v. Workers' Compensation Board of Queensland [1996] 1 Qd.R. 196 – considered
Queensland Trusts and Frame Pty Ltd v. Grenadar Constructions No. 2 Pty Ltd [1992] 2 Qd.R. 428 – followed
Coffey v. Secretary, Department of Social Security (1999) 86 FCR 434 - distinguished

COUNSEL:

SOLICITORS:

R.C. Schulte for the respondent

P.J. Lynch of Lynch & Co for the appellant
Jones King Lawyers for the respondent

1. By a plaint filed in the Magistrates Court in Brisbane on 22 July 1998, WorkCover Queensland claimed against two defendants the amount included in a premium renewal notice dated 2 July 1997 as outstanding Workers’ Compensation premiums, which it was alleged the defendants had failed to pay.  One of the allegations in the particulars annexed to the plaint and summons was that “the defendants were an employer as defined by the Act”: para. 1.4. On 8 September 1998 the second defendant filed an Entry of Appearance and Defence alleging that as from 1 July 1992 she had had no part in “this operation” as a result of certain changes that were made at that time and since then she has had no part in “the business”.  Judgment in default was signed against the first defendant on 5 November 1998.

1. On 30 March 1999, the plaintiff filed a judgment summons seeking judgment against the second defendant.  In response to that application the second defendant filed an affidavit which admitted that on about 17 June 1985 she and the first defendant had applied for a workers' compensation policy for a business they conducted…