Ingrid Margaret Stephenson v Parkes Shire Council; Natalee Stephenson v Parkes Shire Council; ; Jay Stephenson v Parkes Shire Council; ; South West Helicopters Pty Limited and anor. v Essential Energy
[2016] NSWSC 507
At a glance
Source factsCourt
Supreme Court of NSW
Decision date
2016-06-10
Before
Bellew J
Source
Original judgment source is linked above.
Judgment (21 paragraphs)
INTRODUCTION
- In these proceedings I delivered judgment in respect of liability on 19 December 2014: Stephenson v Parkes Shire Council and ors. [2014] NSWSC 1758 ("the liability judgment").
- On 19 June 2015, having received further submissions, I delivered judgment in respect of damages and apportionment: Stephenson v Parkes Shire Council and ors. (No 2) [2015] NSWSC 719 ("the damages judgment").
- At the time of delivering the damages judgment, and for the purposes of making final orders, I directed the parties to bring in Short Minutes reflecting the conclusions I had reached on the issues of liability, damages and apportionment.
- I was then advised that one party wished to bring some further matters to my attention before any final orders were made. Those matters were raised on 24 July 2015 and are canvassed in a further judgment: Stephenson v Parkes Shire Council and ors. (No 3) [2015] NSWSC 1166 ("the third judgment"). I did not, in delivering the third judgment, make any findings which affected any of the conclusions I had reached in the liability judgment, or the damages and apportionment judgment.
- Following the delivery of the third judgment, the parties were again directed to bring in Short Minutes of Order reflecting my conclusions. The parties were also given the opportunity to provide submissions as to costs (although to some extent, the issue of costs had been canvassed in previous submissions).
- After giving the parties a lengthy opportunity to prepare the Short Minutes which were the subject of my previous order, I was advised that quite apart from issues as to costs, no agreement could be reached regarding the form of the final orders to be made. The parties then filed further written submissions as to what each considered to be the appropriate form of those orders.
- On 14 December 2015, whilst judgment in respect of final orders and costs was reserved, a motion was filed by Parkes Shire Council seeking that the proceedings be re-opened. That motion was returnable before me on 5 February 2016.