From: Neil Foster <Neil.Foster@newcastle.edu.au>
To: obligations@uwo.ca
Date: 02/11/2010 00:41:45 UTC
Subject: ODG: Aggravated damages and personal injury
Dear Colleagues;
Those who are interested in such matters may like to know that the NSW Court of Appeal in State of New South Wales v Steven Charles Radford [2010] NSWCA 276 (20 Oct 2010) [http://www.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/scjudgments/2010nswca.nsf/09da2a0a2a27441dca2570e6001e144d/fe6355d8b250e329ca2577c700761fb7?OpenDocument ] has ruled that an award of aggravated damages following an assault is itself, for the purposes of NSW limitations legislation, an action for  "damages for personal injury" and hence subject to the three-year time limits applicable to other such actions. See Sackville AJA at [116]. 
Interestingly a claim for exemplary damages was held not to be in the same category, but since the main claim for assault and aggravated damages was out of time, the claim for exemplary damages did not have anything to "attach" to and had to also be rejected. Reference is made to the "single cause of action" at [125].
Colleagues who haven't seen it yet might also like to consult the excellent recent piece on aggravated damages by list member John Murphy “The Nature and Domain of Aggravated Damages” (2010) 69 Cambridge Law Jnl 353-377.
Regards
Neil

 Neil Foster
Senior Lecturer, LLB Program Convenor,
Newcastle Law School Faculty of Business & Law
MC158, McMullin Building
University of Newcastle Callaghan NSW 2308 AUSTRALIA 
ph 02 4921 7430 fax 02 4921 6931