On 19 February 2020, the NSW Court of Appeal further clarified its position on granting a permanent stay of proceedings that involve allegations of historical child abuse in Gorman v McKnight [2020] NSWCA 20.

Following the Court’s recent decisions regarding this issue in Moubarak bht v Holt and Council of Trinity Grammar School v Anderson, this case clarifies that the Court will not grant a stay unless the defendant shows it has exhausted all reasonable attempts to investigate a matter. It is worth noting that the decision in Anderson is now the subject of an Appeal.

In this case alert, Sean O’Connor and Patrick Thompson explore the impact of this decision for insurers.