By Sonya Parsons, Partner, and Marcela Triantafilo, Lawyer

In The Trustees of the Roman Catholic Church for the Diocese of Lismore v GLJ [2022] NSWCA 78, the Court of Appeal in NSW has determined an appeal against the rejection of an application for the stay of proceedings against a Diocese in respect of a claim against it in vicarious liability and negligence for alleged sexual abuse by a now-deceased priest of the Diocese. While the Plaintiff was successful at first instance in persuading the Court not to order a stay of proceedings, the Court of Appeal overturned that decision. The Court considered that, despite the existence of ‘tendency evidence’ and other documents which shed light on the priest’s alleged offending against others, the exceptional circumstances of the case meant that the stay should be allowed.

We have prepared a case note, which outlines:

• The background
• The Court’s consideration of the trial Judge’s decision
• The re-exercise of the discretion