End of 2011 for Tcard trial
The NSW Supreme Court has set aside court time from 1 August 2011 to the end of 2011 to hear the lawsuit between the NSW Government Public Transport Ticketing Corporation (PTTC) and ERG Group subsidy ITSL over the failed Tcard ticketing system.
(New Train Line image by Sailor Coruscant, CC2.0)
At today's motions hearing for the lawsuit between the PTTC and ITSL over the cancellation of the Tcard ticketing system back in 2008, lawyers acting for both parties agreed to a preliminary trial date of 1 August 2011 suggested by Justice Hammerschlag, who advised both parties not to delay the case any further.
"It means you and the other parties will have to stick to it, otherwise the burden on the system is too great," Hammerschlag said.
ITSL wanted to establish whether the NSW Government had misrepresented itself in negotiations with lobbyist Hawker Britton prior to the cancellation of the contract in 2008. Hawker Britton had been liaising between the government and ITSL. However, the NSW Government will not be drawn into the case after Hammerschlag said that the part of the Fair Trading Act ITSL was using to support this claim was not applicable.
Whether Hawker Britton would be brought back into the case will be heard on 8 October.
ITSL has alleged that Hawker Britton misrepresented the NSW Government's position during negotiations to save the Tcard contract. ITSL lawyer Wayne Muddle alleged that Hawker Britton had informed the company that if the company's chairman wrote a letter to the PTTC accepting responsibility for not meeting the contract and asking for forgiveness, the contract would not be cancelled. Muddle argued at the last directions hearing that this very letter was one of the main reasons cited by the PTTC board as to why the contract was cancelled.
Although the defendants were unsuccessful in their attempt to bring the NSW Government into their counter-claim, Muddle was more hopeful of bringing Hawker Britton back into the case in light of recent evidence he had received.
"Documents given to us yesterday cast further light on Hawker Britton," Muddle said.