The judgment provides a structured six-principle framework for applications to separately determine issues under Part 31 Rule 2 of the Supreme Court Rules (NSW). The framework emphasises that the party seeking separation bears the onus of showing it is desirable, that separation will rarely be appropriate where there are intertwined issues of fact or law or commonality of witnesses and credit issues, and that it must be possible to clearly see that separation will facilitate quicker and cheaper resolution before an order is made. The framework was applied to refuse separation of liability from damages in proceedings claiming $50 billion where the key witness straddled both liability and damages issues.
The full text is available to signed-in members, including the 119 later cases that cite this judgment.
3 of the 119 citing cases carry a classified treatment. How each court treated it is available to signed-in members.