Mordaunt v Director, Victims Services & anor. [2006] NSWSC 1222

Mordaunt v Director, Victims Services & anor. [2006] NSWSC 1222

The plaintiff's arguments that there was no conviction and no relevant offence failed, because a section 10 order was a conviction in the extended statutory sense and the common assault arose from substantially the same facts as the act of domestic violence relied on for the compensation award. However, the Tribunal's orders were vitiated by error of law because the recovery proceedings were not conducted as required by section 52 of the Victims Support and Rehabilitation Act 1996 (NSW): the file was not properly tendered, the precise issues were not clarified, and the parties were not required to present admissible evidence directed to those issues. The Tribunal also did not properly...

Jurisdiction
Australia
Judgment Date
09 November 2006
Procedural Posture
Appeal Under Section 55 of the Victims Support and Rehabilitation Act 1996 (nsw) Against Confirmation of a Provisional Order for Restitution / Final Ex Tempore Judgment in the Supreme Court of New South Wales
Outcome
Appeal allowed; Tribunal orders set aside; plaintiff's objection remitted to the Tribunal for redetermination according to law; each party to pay its own costs in the Supreme Court.
Legal Topics
['restitution Order' 'victims Compensation Tribunal' 'error of Law' 'procedural Fairness' 'rules of Evidence' 'remitter']
['administrative Law' 'victims Compensation' 'civil Procedure'] ['restitution Order' 'victims Compensation Tribunal' 'error of Law' 'procedural Fairness' 'rules of Evidence' 'remitter']

Case Brief

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Procedural Posture

Appeal Under Section 55 of the Victims Support and Rehabilitation Act 1996 (nsw) Against Confirmation of a Provisional Order for Restitution / Final Ex Tempore Judgment in the Supreme Court of New South Wales

Legal Issues

  1. 1 ['Whether the plaintiff had been convicted of a relevant offence for the purposes of the Victims Support and Rehabilitation Act 1996 (NSW).' 'Whether the Tribunal complied with section 52 of the Victims Support and Rehabilitation Act 1996 (NSW) in conducting recovery proceedings according to the rules of evidence and Local Court civil procedure.' 'Whether the Tribunal could consider whether the underlying statutory compensation award ought to have been made when deciding whether to confirm or discharge the provisional order for restitution.' "Whether the Tribunal's orders confirming and varying the provisional order for restitution should be set aside for error of law."]

Ratio Decidendi

The plaintiff's arguments that there was no conviction and no relevant offence failed, because a section 10 order was a conviction in the extended statutory sense and the common assault arose from substantially the same facts as the act of domestic violence relied on for the compensation award. However, the Tribunal's orders were vitiated by error of law because the recovery proceedings were not conducted as required by section 52 of the Victims Support and Rehabilitation Act 1996 (NSW): the file was not properly tendered, the precise issues were not clarified, and the parties were not required to present admissible evidence directed to those issues. The Tribunal also did not properly...

Court Disposition

Appeal allowed; Tribunal orders set aside; plaintiff's objection remitted to the Tribunal for redetermination according to law; each party to pay its own costs in the Supreme Court.

Orders

  • ['The orders made by the Victims Compensation Tribunal are set aside.' "The plaintiff's objection to the Director's provisional order for restitution is remitted to the Tribunal to be redetermined in accordance with the opinions expressed in the reasons." 'Each party is to pay its own costs of and incidental to the...