Commonwealth v Verwayen

Commonwealth v Verwayen
Court	High Court of Australia
Full case name	Commonwealth v Bernard Leonardus Verwayen
Decided	05 September 1990
Citation(s)	[1990] HCA 39; (1990) 170 CLR 394
Transcript(s)	[1]
Case history
Subsequent action(s)	none
Court membership
Judge(s) sitting	Mason CJ, Brennan, Deane, Dawson, Toohey, Gaudron & McHugh JJ

Commonwealth v Verwayen [1990] HCA 39; (1990) 170 CLR 394 is a leading case about Estoppel in Australia.

Verwayen was a leading electrical mechanic in the RAN serving on HMAS Voyager, and was injured in the collision with HMAS Melbourne on 10 February 1964.

He later sued the government for damages for his injuries. In January 1985, the crown solicitor wrote to his solicitor stating: "As you have pointed out, the Commonwealth has admitted negligence and is not pressing the statutory limitation period as a defence. Nevertheless, it still expects claimants to show that they have suffered injury ... and to prove the extent of their injuries and resultant loss, in order to justify an award of damages."

However, 10 months later, the crown solicitor reversed this position and proceeded again with their "absolute defence" that Verwayen's claim was barred by the statute of limitations.

Verwayen later received an Order of Australia Medal for his works in assisting other services personnel.

The court ruled that estoppel applied, and as such, the commonwealth could not plead any limitation defence.

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