The Queensland Court of Appeal dismissed a cross-appeal challenging the primary judge's refusal to permanently stay proceedings on grounds that a fair trial was impossible due to the passage of time and deaths of key witnesses, and that the defendant estate had been fully distributed. The Court held there was no basis for disturbing the discretionary decision, noting that the availability of laches and limitation defences at trial was a sufficient answer to the fair trial argument, and that the factual material before the primary judge did not establish that the estate had no assets.
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