Dust Diseases List

Practice Note SC CL 3 Personal Injuries Litigation sets out the types of proceedings that should be initiated in this List and provides information about how they are managed.

Judges in charge

The Honourable Justice O'Meara
The Honourable Justice Tsalamandris

Contact Details

General enquiries in relation to the Dusts Diseases List should be directed to qhfg.qvfrnfrf@fhcpbheg.ivp.tbi.nhua.vog.civ.truocpus@sesaesid.tsud .

Management of Cases

Role of Judicial officers and staff 

A group of specialist lawyers and judicial officers supervise and manage proceedings in the List.

Lawyers monitor and manage the ongoing conduct of cases in their pre-trial stages, including by reviewing filings, liaising with parties and assisting judicial officers ahead of hearings.

Judicial registrars are responsible for the pre-trial management of cases in the list, and will ordinarily put in place interlocutory timetables, set hearing dates and trial dates, and hear certain types of pre-trial application.

Associate judges hear certain types of longer or more complex applications arising in proceedings in the List. Judges of the Court hear the trials of proceedings in the List, as well as some complex applications.

Timetabling and stages of proceedings

The Court expects proceedings initiated in the List to be conducted efficiently and expeditiously, having regard to the Civil Procedure Act 2010 (Vic).

Specific expectations are detailed in the Practice Note SC CL 3, which practitioners must be familiar with.

Once a notice of appearance is filed in the proceeding, the Court will issue a timetable to the parties, including a date by which the matter is to be mediated, a date for a Trial Management Directions Hearing, and a trial date. A summons for directions is not needed. Parties can vary dates in the timetable before their trial management directions hearing by agreement, without seeking orders from the Court.

Where agreement cannot be reached between the parties on any matter, orders can be sought from the Court by way of an interlocutory application, which is to be made by filing a summons supported by affidavit material in accordance with the Practice Note.

A Trial Management Directions Hearing will be scheduled as part of the initial timetable, usually about 2–3 weeks after the mediation date. The purpose of this hearing is to confirm that the matter will be ready to proceed to trial on time, and to identify any outstanding procedural issues that need to be addressed ahead of the trial. Participation in the trial management directions process is mandatory, however if all parties confirm that their timetable has been complied with and there are no outstanding issues in the proceeding, Trial Management Directions Hearings may be conducted ‘on the papers’ without the need for appearances.

A Final Directions Hearing will be scheduled by the Court as part of the Trial Management Directions process, and will usually occur about 2–3 weeks before the trial date. The purpose of the Final Directions Hearing is for parties to confirm that their trial will be ready to proceed, and to address specific issues that will be relevant to how the trial will proceed.

All persons appearing at the Final Directions Hearings must have a good working knowledge of the matter and be able to advise the Court on its progress and readiness for trial. It is the Court's expectation that the practitioner with the conduct of the file, or a person sufficiently briefed so that all questions from the bench can be addressed, will appear at the Final Directions Hearing. Non-admitted persons must seek leave to appear prior to the date of any hearing by emailing  qhfg.qvfrnfrf@fhcpbheg.ivp.tbi.nhua.vog.civ.truocpus@sesaesid.tsud . 

Directions Hearing

Directions hearings in the List occur every Friday other than on non-sitting dates identified below. Parties will be informed of directions hearing dates in timetabling orders that are made in a hearing, or otherwise by email where any case-specific issues mean that a directions hearing is required.

The Court does not routinely send notifications of upcoming hearings as reminders to parties. Parties are expected to diarise hearing dates set in orders and correspondence, and to consult the Daily Hearing List.

Where necessary, parties can request that a directions hearing is listed in a proceeding by contacting qhfg.qvfrnfrf@fhcpbheg.ivp.tbi.nhua.vog.civ.truocpus@sesaesid.tsud .

Making an Application 

Pre-trial applications (including applications to vacate a trial date) must be made by filing a summons, supported by affidavit material.

A party seeking to make an application does not need to obtain a return date from the Registry before filing the summons. Rather, any summons may be made returnable for directions on any Friday (other than a non-sitting date listed below) that is more than 7 days in the future. In advance of the directions hearing, parties should confer to identify any timetabling orders required for the application to be able to proceed, including considering when an appropriate hearing date will be.

Applications issued each week will be reviewed by registry lawyers and judicial registrars, and parties will be advised of hearing details in advance of the return date.

Details of how applications should be made are provided in SC CL 3 Personal Injuries Litigation.

The following hearing details must be inserted into the summons before filing the summons and any supporting documents in RedCrest: 

Circuits and regional proceedings

Proceedings that are sought to be heard in a regional circuit sitting rather than in Melbourne should be initiated in the list relevant to their subject matter. Parties seeking a trial listing in a specific circuit sitting should advise the List by email at the commencement of a proceeding.

Practitioners should refer to SC CL 3 Personal Injuries Litigation and the Court’s Civil Circuit List for further details.

Self-represented litigants

Self-represented litigants will find useful information about the Court's processes in the Representing Yourself pages.