CA SE NOTES - SUPREME COURT
CAMERON FORD BARRISTER, ARBITRATOR, ADJUDICATOR, MEDIATOR
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Supreme Court judgments CIVIL APPEALS Rehearing; Vitiating error required In BJEK Pty Ltd v Henbury Cattle Co Pty Ltd & Ors [2021] NTCA 1 [7]-[8], the Court of Appeal (Grant CJ, Blokland J and Mildren AJ) held that, although the Supreme Court Act 1979 (NT) does not specify the type of appeal under s51, the assumption has always been that the appeal is an appeal by way of rehearing on a question of law or fact or both. The clear statutory implication is that vitiating error by the trial Judge must be established before the Court will interfere.
CONVERSION Relational context relevant In BJEK Pty Ltd v Henbury Cattle Co Pty Ltd & Ors [2021] NTCA 1, the Court of Appeal (Grant CJ, Blokland J and Mildren AJ) held that the question whether conversion has occurred requires an understanding of the practical and commercial context of the relationship between the parties to determine whether the actions were repugnant to the owner’s rights of ownership assessed in the context of the realistic, practical and honest conduct of the business in question. Being in possession of another’s goods without authority does not, without more, amount to conversion. The
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essence of conversion is a dealing with a chattel in a manner repugnant to the immediate right of possession. An invitation to the owner to come and retrieve the goods may be worthless and disingenuous given the logistical, geographical and situational difficulties of collecting the goods.
CRIMINAL APPEALS Number of notices of appeal In Lorenzetti v Brennan [2021] NTSCFC 3, the Full Court (Southwood, Kelly JJ and Riley AJ) held that there must be a separate notice of appeal from each sentence regardless of the number of complaints on which the sentences were imposed. The court recommended Parliament amend the legislation to permit one notice per complaint.
EVIDENCE Briginshaw not applicable to quantum In BJEK Pty Ltd v Henbury Cattle Co Pty Ltd & Ors [2021] NTCA 1, the Court of Appeal (Grant CJ, Blokland J and Mildren AJ) held that the Briginshaw test of clear or cogent proof did not apply to determination of quantum after it had been applied to establish liability. It is not unusual that an assessment of quantum is inferential, or that circumstantial evidence may be used to
