Civil Procedure: Pre-Trial Process and Procedures, Law Assignment

This assignment analyzes the pre-trial process in a civil case involving a motor vehicle accident. It begins with the final step before commencing proceedings: sending a letter of demand to the defendant or pursuing an out-of-court settlement. The document outlines the relevant court (District Court of Queensland), the claim's limitations, and rules regarding privileged documents. It details the form used for the list of documents in interlocutory proceedings and the information required from the client to prove liability, including witness statements, incident reports, and footage. The assignment includes a cost letter outlining the fees for various stages of the legal process. Finally, a sample statement of claim is provided, detailing the facts and relief sought by the plaintiff. The assignment references relevant legislation and legal resources to support the analysis.

Assist with Civil
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

From: The Law Firm
To: CD
Subject: Preparation of Pre-Trial Process for the Client CD.
Final Step that must be completed before commencing proceedings:
The final step that must be completed before commencing a proceeding in the case of motor
vehicle accident against AB is through a letter of demand sent to the defendant AB or request
the defendant to solve the matter through out of court settlement. A letter of demand is a
letter which shall be sent by the plaintiff to the defendant of the case in which CD or his
solicitor on behalf of CD shall demand compensation for the loss suffered by CD with
regards to the accident which was occurred for the negligence of AB. If AB provides the
amount of money demanded as compensation to the CD then CD shall not make any further
court proceedings in the matter. However, if the defendant denies the matter or does not pay
any compensation to the CD then CD shall sent a letter of warning and start court
proceedings against AB. The solicitor must also note that whether the driver of the car was
the owner of the car or a driver who has been acting as the agent of the owner. If the driver
has been acting as the agent of the owner then both the owner and the driver shall be liable
for the accident or the damage caused due to the accident (MAIC. 2019). If the driver did not
act as an agent of the owner then the damage shall be pursued from the driver itself.
The concerned court in which the claim must be made:
According to the Section 68 of District Court of Queensland Act, 1967 provides civil
jurisdiction to entertain case related to motor accident within the jurisdiction of Queensland.
In the given case the damage to the car of CD valued at $175,000. The car which CD was
driving was a 1969 GTO Ferrari was damaged by AB in a car accident. The repairing cost of
the car has been valued at $175,000. As per the provisions of the Queensland’s Motor
Vehicle Law, the District Court has the power to entertain case value of $750,000.
Limitations as to filing of claim:
According to the Limitation of Actions Act, 1974 it has been stated that the enactment has
imposed certain strict time limit within which the claims or court proceeding must be made in
the state of Queensland. If the claim has not been made within the period of limitation then
the claims shall be barred by statute. The court can allow an extension for filing a claim
petition in very limited circumstances which has been provided under Section 30 and Section

32 of the Limitation Act. According to the Section 10 of the Limitation Act it has been stated
that for claims which include property damage, it must be filed within six years from the date
on which the actual cause of action took place. According to the Rule 24 (1) of the Uniform
Civil Procedure Rules 1999 it has been stated that the claim shall remain in force for a term
of 1year from the data on which it has been filed. Rule 27 (1) of the UCPR, 1999 has been
stated that the application for claim must be filed and served to each respondents before three
working days from the hearing date of the application. According to Chapter 5 of the UCPR,
1999, it has been stated that the respondents should file a Notice of Intention to Defend
within 28 days after the claim has been filed and the same must be served to the plaintiff on
the same date.
Rules regarding privileged document:
According to Section 212 of the UCPR, stated that privileged documents are documents to
which disclosure does not apply. It has been state Privileged documents are those documents
which consist of conversation between the petitioner and its attorney. The term privilege
makes a party to hold the evidence from disclosure before any third party or the court,
however, such evidence must be written or oral. According to the Rule 214 (1) (a) it has been
provided that the disclosure of documents or evidences must be performed by both the parties
providing a list of documents which the parties believes must be disclosed (Qls.com.au.
2019). The party also must lit the documents which t does not wants to disclose as they
contains privileged information. Therefore, both the parties shall disclose all the documents
that has been provided under the list of documents except those documents which has been
marked as privilege.
The form for List of Documents which is to be used in the Interlocutory Proceedings:
After the parties to the litigation files their pleadings to the proceedings, the pleadings shall
become closed and after the closing of the pleading the court may ask the parties to file their
documents or evidence before the court for disclosure as per the provisions of the Uniform
Civil Procedure Rules 1999. Under the provision of Rule 214 (1) (a) it has been provided
that the parties must disclose their evidences except the privilege documents in the respective
form 19 within 14 days from the request of disclosure of documents has been made by the
parties to the dispute (Lawyers and Burrows 2019). Under Form 19 the parties must provide
Description of Document, Person Who Made Document and date and each of the documents
also must be segregated into Document ID, Document Type, Title, Author (Surname Initials),

Author Organisation, Recipient, Recipient Organization, Date. The form shall also contain
the list of privileged documents in the same format.
Information that is required from the client or third party to prove liability:
The client should provide a detailed description of the accident without keeping anything
secret even if the client knows that the client is liable for the accident. As a paralegal in
charge of this matter, the CCTV footage of the accident which occurred between AB and CD
must be obtained from the traffic department of the concerned area or the concerned police
officer who in this case is the investigating officer of the particular accident. The CCTV
footage shall enable the solicitor to mark the areas on which it can put the case to make the
other party liable. The footage of the accident will also enable who had violated the traffic
rules for which the accident has occurred or what was the traffic light when the accident
occurred. Therefore, to prove the liability of the defendant’s car the following documents or
information which are needed by the solicitor or the law firm which are as follows:
 Statement of Witness of the particular accident.
 Incident report form the concerned authority
 Documents of the car including registration number.
 Footage of traffic camera.
 Medical reports of the injured person, if any in relation to the accident.
Cost Letter:
To
CD
Subject: Contract for the cost that is required for pleading on Behalf of you before
District Court of Queensland.
Dear Sir,
This is to inform you that the pleading and proceeding with the respect to you motor vehicle
accident and claim for property damage requires costs as well as fees for such service which
shall be provided by us as per you consent. The particulars as to the cost of such services is
attached below:

Cost of Proceeding: $1000
Cost at the stage of pleadings: $2000
Cost at the stage of Disclosure: $1000
Fees for advice: $3000
Total: $7000
Please make the payment of $7000 for the purpose of you pleading. I shall be highly obliged
of you kindly make a 30% advance payment of the total amount billed.
Thanking You Dated:
Yours Sincerely
Solicitor
Thanking You Dated:
Yours Sincerely

Reference:
legalaid.qld.gov.au. 2019. Car Accidents. [online] Legalaid.qld.gov.au. Available at:
<http://www.legalaid.qld.gov.au/Find-legal-information/Cars-and-driving/Car-accidents>
[Accessed 23 September 2019].
Legalpediaqld.org.au. 2019. Time Limits Under The Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 1999
(Qld) - Legalpedia Qld. [online] Available at:
<http://www.legalpediaqld.org.au/index.php/Time_limits_under_the_Uniform_Civil_Proced
ure_Rules_1999_(Qld)> [Accessed 23 September 2019].
Qls.com.au. 2019. What Documents On My File Are Privileged? — Queensland Law Society.
[online] Available at:
<https://www.qls.com.au/Knowledge_centre/Ethics/Resources/Legal_Professional_Privilege/
What_documents_on_my_file_are_privileged> [Accessed 23 September 2019].
Queensland Law Handbook Online. 2019. Claiming Compensation After A Motor Vehicle
Accident. [online] Available at: <https://queenslandlawhandbook.org.au/the-queensland-law-
handbook/health-and-wellbeing/accidents-and-injury/claiming-compensation-after-a-motor-
vehicle-accident/> [Accessed 23 September 2019].
Lawyers, D. and Burrows, 2019. What Is Your Duty Of Disclosure? | Brisbane Lawyers |
Dundas Lawyers. [online] Brisbane Lawyers | Dundas Lawyers. Available at:
<https://www.dundaslawyers.com.au/what-is-your-duty-of-disclosure/> [Accessed 23
September 2019].
Austlii.edu.au. 2019. UNIFORM CIVIL PROCEDURE RULES 2005. [online] Available at:
<http://www5.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/nsw/consol_reg/ucpr2005305/> [Accessed 23
September 2019].
Law.pace.edu. 2019. [online] Available at:
<https://law.pace.edu/sites/default/files/IJIEA/primary_sources/Queensland_Uniform_Civil_
Procedure_Rules_1999.pdf> [Accessed 23 September 2019].

MAIC. 2019. Home - MAIC. [online] Available at: <https://maic.qld.gov.au/> [Accessed 23
September 2019].
Classic.austlii.edu.au. 2019. Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 1999 - Reg 24. [online]
Available at: <http://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/qld/consol_reg/ucpr1999305/s24.html>
[Accessed 23 September 2019].
Legislation.qld.gov.au. 2019. [online] Available at:
<https://www.legislation.qld.gov.au/view/pdf/inforce/2017-03-01/act-1974-075> [Accessed
23 September 2019].
Appendix:
The form for List of Documents which is to be used in the Interlocutory Proceedings:
DISTRICT COURT OF QUEENSLAND

REGISTRY:
NUMBER:
Plaintiffi CD
AND
[First] Defendant AB
AND
[Second Defendant] Driver of AB
LIST OF DOCUMENTS
(This Form is not required where a party discloses documents by producing them under Rule
217)
The following is a list of the documents directly relevant to the allegations or matters in
question in this proceeding which are in the possession or control of the [plaintiff (or as the
case may be)] and is served in compliance with the Uniform Civil Procedure Rules, Chapter
7, Part 1. [(or the order dated (date)]

1. The documents are listed in the Schedule. Subject to Rule 216, you may request
copies of documents. So far as copies have not been provided to you with this list, or
previously, you may require inspection of the original documents under Rule 215.
(If applicable) It is inconvenient to deliver copies of the documents marked with an
asterisk (*) in the Schedule. You may inspect them at (place) at the following time(s):
(list times).
2. (If applicable) The [plaintiff (or as the case may be)] objects to produce the
documents listed in Part 2 of the Schedule on the ground of privilege.
SCHEDULE
Part 1
Description of Document Person Who Made Document Date (if any)
Part 2 – Documents for which privilege is claimed
Description of Document Person Who Made Document Date (if any)

Alternative applicable where documents are electronically managed (as where there are
more than 500 disclosable documents), unless the parties otherwise agree in writing, or the
Court otherwise orders.ii
SCHEDULE
Part 1
Document
ID
Document
Type
Title** # Author
(Surname
Initials)
#Author
Organisation
#Recipient #Recipient
Organization
Date
Part 2 – Documents for which privilege is claimed
Document
ID
Document
Type
Title** # Author
(Surname
Initials)
#Author
Organisation
#Recipient #Recipient
Organization
Date

**Optional field
#If multiple parties separate with a semicolon “;”
Signed:
Description:
Dates: (disclosing party or
solicitor of signatory)

DISTRICT COURT OF QUEENSLAND
REGISTRY
:
Brisbane
NUMBER: 2903/19
Plaintiff: CD
AND
[First] Defendant: AB
AND
[Second Defendant:] Driver of AB
STATEMENT OF CLAIM
This claim in this proceeding is made in reliance on the following facts:
1. That the drive of AB was negligent in driving the vehicle and ran the vehicle violating the
traffic rules.
2. That due to the sudden violation of the traffic rules by the Driver if AB, there has been a
property damage which has been suffered by the Plaintiff CD.
3. That the car which the Driver of AB was driving was recognized in the incident report as
black Porsche being registration number ‘STUD 1’.
4. That the car which was damaged due to the negligence of the driver of AB or the property
of CD was 1969 GTO Ferrari.
5. That due to the negligence of the driver of AB the Plaintiff CD suffered a property damage
and loss of $175,000