Cripps v Mick's Fishing Enterprises P/L

EX-TEMPORE Judgment

1. This is an application to set aside a subpoena which is returnable at the Lismore Registry of the District Court on 5 March 2021. The application was brought on urgently in the current sittings of the Court of Lismore because of the imminent return date.
2. The context of the application is that the plaintiff has made a claim against the defendants for damages for personal injuries comprising chronic post-traumatic stress disorder and a related chronic depressive disorder resulting from a deep sea fishing incident that occurred on the defendants' boat on 24 March 2016.
3. The plaintiff's statement of claim was filed on 13 March 2019. The plaintiff's statement of particulars outlining her claim for damages was filed on 19 March 2019. It particularises a generalised claim for diminution in her earning capacity and also seeks an economic buffer to compensate for a claimed diminution in her future earning capacity.
4. In the application, the defendants' solicitor was to originally appear via AVL but that arrangement became unworkable. In the circumstances, Mr Raftery of counsel appeared for the defendants via AVL at short notice and has provided an outline of written submissions. He also spoke to those submissions. In my view he has put all arguments that could be reasonably advanced on behalf of the defendants in this application.
5. Turning to the factual basis of the application, the plaintiff was a 17 year old student at the time of the events. She is now aged 22 years and she has just recently graduated as a nurse. Therefore, her past history of earnings is unknown, if not negligible or unlikely.
6. Dr Scurrah, a consultant psychiatrist, retained by the plaintiff's solicitor, has assessed the plaintiff and has reported as follows: "PTSD and depression may in some way interfere with her capacity as a nurse. Exposure to triggers within the work environment of a nurse may occur. During these periods her efficiency as a nurse would be reduced and she may need to take time off work. The nursing profession can be a strenuous profession. It may involve shift work, exposure to traumatised individuals and/or emotionally distressed individuals. All of these situations are likely to lead to a deterioration in her psychiatric illnesses and may place her at risk of reduced efficiency in the workplace and/or needing to take leave and/or remotely being unable to continue to work as a nurse."