Announcements

The District Court has made changes to reduce the risk of the spread of COVID-19 (Coronavirus). Before attending a court, please read this important information.

For information regarding changes to practice and procedure, please see District Court COVID-19 updates.

For general information, including about jury trials see: courts and tribunals response to the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic.

Law Term Vacation Arrangements 2022/23

Law Term Vacation Arrangements 2022/23 (DOC, 56.0 KB)

National Day of Mourning Public Holiday

Thursday 22 September 2022 (PDF, 419.8 KB)

Notice to practitioners - Coal miners' workers compensation list

See also Practice Note 12 Coal miners' workers compensation list, revised on 29 March 2012

March 30 2012: Although coal mining matters comprise part of the residual jurisdiction of the District Court, sections 56 to 60 (Overriding purpose) of the Civil Procedure Act 2005 apply.

All practitioners have an important role in fostering these aims.

This includes cooperating with the opposing lawyers, resolving issues by communication with a view to avoiding unnecessary applications, not incurring unnecessary or disproportionate costs and not wasting court time to determine matters which the parties should be able to resolve between themselves.

Specialist jurisdictions, such as coal mining, in which a relatively small number of practitioners regularly appear, ought by their nature provide an ideal atmosphere in which to foster the aims of the legislation and thereby to limit costs.

Practitioners are reminded that the efficiency of the coal mining list is to a large extent dependent on good communication, courtesy and a high level of cooperation between the members of the profession.

Judge Truss
NSW District Court
March 30 2012

Changes in registry filing practices for civil documents

December 16 2011: Changes in registry filing practices will commence on 1 January 2012. Filing parties only need to provide the civil registry with the original document and one copy of the document (this includes cases with multiple parties).

The registry will retain the original document on the court file. The registry will add the case number and listing date (if applicable) to the copy then seal only the first page of the copy. The sealed copy will then be returned to the filing party. The filing party is then responsible for making any additional copies that are required for service.

The original document filed must bear original signatures, as required by the Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 and the single copy must be a true photocopy of that original document. (That is, the copy of the original document must be made after it has been signed).

These new practices apply to all originating processes and secondary documents filed at the registry in person or by post.

These changes are consistent with amendments to the Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 made on 9 September 2011. The purpose of the UCPR amendment was to:

remove the requirement for filing parties to serve a defendant/s with an originating process that bears the court's original seal, and
confirm that the original court seal only needs to be applied to the first page of an originating process, and not every page. (Note: there is no requirement for a secondary document to bear an original court seal when served)

These new practices are consistent with practices of the Supreme Court.

Subpoenas

The above filing practice does not apply to subpoenas. There is no change to the requirement of filing one subpoena for sealing as per Civil Practice Note 8. There is no requirement for the registry to retain a copy of the subpoena.

Archived

Additional judges for the District Court

October 29 2018

Chief Judge media release (PDF, 30.1 KB) (PDF, 30.1 KB) (PDF, 25.5 KB)

District Court joins Twitter

May 12 2015: @NSWDstCt is now on Twitter (PDF, 69.8 KB) (PDF, 69.8 KB) (PDF, 63.6 KB)