Australia’s High Court has ordered a retrial of a damages claim against the estate of a man convicted of sexually abusing a former foster child.
The claimant, identified as MTH, represented herself at the original trial. The trial judge dismissed her assault claim after treating the Evidence Act as preventing the convictions from proving the underlying abuse. The New South Wales Court of Appeal reversed that result, decided the case as though a conviction certificate had been tendered and reassessed damages.
The High Court unanimously allowed the estate’s appeal in part. It agreed that the trial judge had misunderstood sections 91 and 92: evidence of the convictions was admissible to prove the acts to which they related. But it held that the Court of Appeal went too far by imposing an obligation on the trial judge to supply arguments for an unrepresented litigant and by deciding the case on evidence not tendered below.
The claim remains unresolved. A retrial, rather than a final damages award, is now required.
