Western Australia District Court Rules – Amendments

The District Court Rules 2005 (WA) have been amended with effect from 19 August 2013. There are three main amendments, the two most important relating to:

The Inactive Cases List:

• There is a new obligation in Rule 37 that, unless otherwise ordered, a plaintiff has to enter an action for trial within 120 days of the filing of the first defence.

• This is to address the issue raised in Ruby v Doric Constructions (Australia) Pty Ltd [2013] WASCA 94 (a case we reported on in our April update) in which the District Court dismissed Ruby's claim for damages after it had been placed on the Inactive Cases List.

  Ruby appealed, arguing that no entry for trial date had ever been established in any timetable relating to the action. The basis upon which the District Court had placed the action in the Inactive Cases List (and upon which it had been subsequently dismissed) was the date for entry for trial in the "standard timetable". This is a timetable circulated by the