Lower Court Judgment
21/07/2014 Supreme Court of New South Wales (Court of Appeal) (Meagher JA, Ward JA, Emmett JA )
Catchwords
Estoppel – Issue estoppel – Appellant was employee at abattoir owned by respondent – Appellant was injured as result of respondent’s negligence – Appellant and others complained to Fair Work Ombudsman about abattoir’s failure to pay all wage entitlements – Fair Work Ombudsman brought proceedings in its name against respondent – Appellant separately commenced proceedings claiming damages against respondent for personal injury under Civil Liability Act 2002 (NSW) – Appellant argued in proceedings that abattoir was relevant employer – Respondent pleaded by way of defence that appellant was issue estopped by reason of earlier proceedings on the issue of employee/employer such that respondent was appellant’s relevant employer – Whether Fair Work Ombudsman was privy of appellant employee in earlier proceedings – Whether appellant was issue estopped by earlier decision made in proceedings commenced by Fair Work Ombudsman to which appellant was not party.
12/12/2014 Hearing (SLA, Sydney)
07/01/2015 Notice of appeal
21/01/2015 Written submissions (Appellant)
21/01/2015 Chronology (Appellant)
11/02/2015 Written submissions (Respondent)
04/03/2015 Reply
10/04/2015 Hearing (Full Court, Canberra) (Audio-visual recording)
12/08/2015 Judgment (Judgment summary)