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MAGISTRATES COURT (CIVIL PROCEEDINGS) ACT 2004 - SECT 16

MAGISTRATES COURT (CIVIL PROCEEDINGS) ACT 2004 - SECT 16

16 .         Court’s powers to control and manage cases

        (1)         The Court may do all or any of the following for the purposes of controlling and managing cases and trials —

            (a)         extend the time for complying with any rule of court or practice direction, or any order made by the Court (even if the time for complying has expired), or shorten it;

            (b)         adjourn or bring forward a hearing to a specified date;

            (c)         stay any case, either generally or until a specified date;

            (d)         consolidate cases;

            (e)         try 2 or more cases on the same occasion;

            (f)         order any aspect of a case or a counterclaim in a case to be dealt with as a separate case;

            (g)         order that particular issues be tried in a particular order;

            (h)         order that an issue not be tried;

                  (i)         order that an issue be tried separately;

            (j)         order that a case in which the value of the claim, or of the relief claimed, by the claimant is not more than the minor cases jurisdictional limit and that the claimant has not elected to have dealt with under the minor cases procedure be dealt with under the minor cases procedure;

            (k)         give judgment against a claim after a decision is made on a separate trial of a preliminary issue;

            (l)         hold a hearing by audio link or video link (as those terms are defined in the Evidence Act 1906 section 120);

            (m)         allow a party to amend its case statement;

            (n)         order a party to provide additional information to that in or attached to its case statement, whether by disclosing or providing documents or by answering interrogatories;

            (o)         order parties —

                  (i)         to exchange the written statements of the evidence that is anticipated will be given by witnesses;

                  (ii)         to confer, to attend before a mediator or other person or to take other measures, before trial, to try to settle the case or identify the issues that need to be tried;

                  (iii)         to attend before the Court before trial to deal with case management, interlocutory and pre-trial issues;

                  (iv)         to do anything that in the Court’s opinion will or may facilitate the case being conducted and concluded efficiently, economically and expeditiously;

            (p)         by order, limit —

                  (i)         the time a party has at trial to examine, cross-examine or re-examine a witness, or to make oral submissions, or to present its case;

                  (ii)         the number of witnesses (including expert witnesses) that may be called in relation to an issue;

                  (iii)         the length of a trial;

            (q)         refuse to admit into evidence a document that a party has deliberately not disclosed or provided in accordance with rules of court;

            (r)         as to expert witnesses —

                  (i)         order a party to disclose the nature and substance of the expert evidence to be given by any expert witness the party intends to call;

                  (ii)         order an expert witness to disclose the advice given to, and the work done in relation to the case of, the party that intends to call him or her;

                  (iii)         refuse to allow an expert witness to be called without the leave of the Court;

                  (iv)         refuse to admit the evidence of an expert witness that has not been disclosed in accordance with rules of court or a court order;

            (s)         order a party to pay the whole or a part of the costs of a case if the party has deliberately not disclosed or provided a document in accordance with rules of court;

            (t)         take any other action or make any other order for the purpose of complying with section 13.

        (2)         A power in this section to make an order includes a power to vary or cancel the order.