Lawyers for former NRL star Jarryd Hayne are seeking to have a civil damages lawsuit against him dismissed, citing delays in the case.
In 2024, Mr Hayne walked out of prison after his sexual assault convictions relating to a Newcastle woman were quashed on appeal.
The woman alleged the former Parramatta Eels player sexually assaulted her in her Newcastle home on the night of the 2018 NRL grand final.
The former rugby league star faced three criminal trials and two appeals over six years.
Mr Hayne was first tried in 2020, which led to a hung jury after two days of deliberation.
A year later, he was found guilty in a second trial, but the verdict was overturned on appeal in February 2022.
A jury found him guilty in his third trial, which lasted two weeks in April 2023, after he pleaded not guilty to two counts of sexual intercourse without consent.
In June last year, Jarryd Hayne won an appeal and walked out of prison after his rape convictions were overturned.
In 2021, the woman launched civil proceedings, pursuing Mr Hayne in the Supreme Court for damages caused to her by the case.Â
Call to dismiss
The matter was briefly mentioned in the Supreme Court in Sydney on Thursday.
Jarryd Hayne’s civil proceedings are before the NSW Supreme Court. (ABC News: Jak Rowland)
During proceedings, Mr Hayne’s lawyer, Michael Short, told Registrar Jennifer Hedge that he wanted the case thrown out, due to delays.
“I must say it is a long and well-publicised matter and there were criminal proceedings in relation to this matter,” Mr Short said.
He then took issue with the time it had taken the woman’s legal team to serve a psychiatric report and other evidentiary statements.
Mr Short said expert psychiatric evidence was served six weeks after it was ordered to be produced.
“It is a manifest failure to comply with the court’s timetable,” he said.
“The bottom line is that we have filed an application to dismiss these proceedings.”
The woman’s barrister, Hugo Thomas-Dubler, told the registrar he could produce the remaining expert evidence by January 16.
He said that the evidence related to what he called a “forensic account”.
The case returns to the Supreme Court on February 24.
On that day, a date will be set for a half-day hearing in relation to the application to dismiss the case.