Lucy Valentina Paru v Milinda Kotigama

• Jurisdiction: Papua New Guinea
• Citation: (2015) N6089
• Date: 01 October 2015
• Court: National Court
• Year: 2015

Full : HRA NO 194 OF 2015; Lucy Valentina Paru v Milinda Kotigama, National Sales Manager, Bmobile-Vodafone and Bmobile-Vodafone (2015) N6089

National Court: Cannings J

Judgment Delivered: 1 October 2015

PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE—application for dismissal of proceedings—National Court Rules, O12, r40 (frivolity etc)—whether an application for enforcement of human rights disclosed no reasonable cause of action, was frivolous or vexatious or an abuse of process.

The defendants applied for dismissal of a human rights enforcement application by the plaintiff, who argued that the defendants terminated her employment in a way that infringed a number of her human rights.

Held:

(1) The defendants failed to prove that the proceedings failed to disclose a reasonable cause of action or that the proceedings were vexatious or an abuse of process.

(2) However, the application was upheld and the entire proceedings were dismissed as the proceedings were “frivolous”, for the purpose of Order 12, Rule 40(1)(b) of the National Court Rules, in the sense that the plaintiff had no reasonable prospects of success, and the continuance of the proceedings would have no practical utility.

(3) It is conceivable that in an extreme case of maltreatment of a dismissed employee by an employer, the dismissed employee would be able to prove a breach of human rights, in particular the right of protection against harsh or oppressive or other proscribed acts under Section 41 (proscribed acts) of the Constitution. However, in this case, the allegations of the plaintiff as to how she was dealt with, even if sustained, are not capable of supporting a finding of a breach of Section 41 or of any other human right recognised by the Constitution.

Cases cited

The following cases are cited in the judgment:

Kiee Toap v The State (2004) N2731

Petrus and Gawi v Telikom (2006) N3373

Rex Tomara v Ok Tedi Mining Ltd (2014) N5821

Ronny Wabia v BP Exploration Co Ltd and Others [1998] PNGLR 8

1st October, 2015

1. CANNINGS J: This is a ruling on a motion filed on 4 September 2015 by the defendants, Milinda Kotigama and Bmobile-Vodafone, by...