Read the full judgment text of HCA 480/2009 on BabelCite. This Court of First Instance judgment was delivered on 20 July 2012 before Chung J.
Civil procedure – pleadings and evidence – expungement of witness statements – relevance of evidence – consistency with pleadings – insurance – marine cargo – round logs shipped from Southeast Asia to China – US$1.5 million policy claim – 'Purported Warranty' that vessel's deadweight tonnage must be not less than 10,000 – whether Insurer entitled to avoid policy for breach of warranty – Broker admitting in defence that Insurer inserted Purported Warranty without Insured's knowledge and failed to alert Insured – Broker's witness statements containing inconsistent assertions that Broker informed Insured of the warranty and that Insured accepted the arrangement – functions of properly particularised pleadings including informing the other side of the case, preventing surprise, enabling preparation of evidence, limiting issues, and tying the hands of the party to matters pleaded – relevance of evidence must be judged in the context of issues raised by pleadings – matters admitted in pleadings cannot be 'relevant' in this sense – earlier application by Broker to amend defence refused – whether offending parts should be expunged – held, offending parts were inconsistent with Broker's own pleadings and not relevant – application granted – paragraphs 11 and 12 of witness statement dated 24 January 2011 and paragraphs 6, 7 and 12 of witness statement dated 16 May 2012 (insofar as para 12 repeats the earlier paragraphs) expunged – conclusion limited to dispute between Insured and Broker and not intended to cover dispute between Insured and Insurer.
Legal issues: Expungement of witness statement paragraphs inconsistent with pleadings
Outcome: Application to expunge granted; the offending parts of the Broker's witness statements were expunged.
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