by | Sep 27, 2023 | Uncategorized
Judge Salvatore Vasta’s decision to imprison Mr Stradford (a pseudonym) for contempt of the former Federal Circuit Court in 2018 was promptly reversed by the Full Family Court. The Full Court had described the process to be “so devoid of procedural fairness that to allow the order for imprisonment to stand would be an affront to justice” (see Stradford & Stradford (2019) FLC 93-888).
The damages case
The case has recently become newsworthy again with Mr Stradford’s claim for damages against Judge Vasta being successful. In an 852 paragraph judgment, Wigney J in the Federal Court traversed some rarely seen issues including judicial immunity and whether it applies to inferior court judges. The end result is that the Judge will be personally liable for a portion of the damages. If you’re not up to reading the judgment you could just listen to the Law Report podcast.
Angelo Vasta
However, this post is not about Judge Vasta Jr. I grew up in Bjelke-Peterson pre-Fitzgerald Queensland and even I remember the controversy surrounding his father, former justice of the Supreme Court of QLD, Angelo Vasta.
On 8 June 1989, Mr Angelo Vasta QC’s commission as a Judge of the Supreme Court of Queensland was cancelled by the then Governor of Queensland, the late Sir Walter Campbell AC QC. The action taken by the Governor followed a motion of the Queensland Parliament passed the day before to remove Mr Vasta from the Supreme Court due to behaviour which in the opinion of a Parliamentary Judges Commission of Inquiry warranted his removal from office.
Needless to say there was a tangled web of matters that ultimately led to his removal. He is (I think) the only Supreme Court Judge who has ever been removed from office. The matters started with a defamation case against the magazine Matilda, which published material about his relationship with the then police commissioner Terry Lewis. Of course, friendship with Terry Lewis resulted in him being invited to give evidence in the Fitzgerald Enquiry. That invitation was declined and Justice Vasta was then given notice that there may have been evidence that an affidavit he swore in the defamation proceedings may not have been entirely correct.
This is quite a long saga and most of it is difficult to find on the internet. However, in 2017 Robbie Katter (state member for Mt Isa and Bob’s son) introduced a private member’s bill to the QLD parliament. A parliamentary committee examined the Honourable Angelo Vasta (Reversal of Removal) Bill 2017 and recommended that it not be passed (which it wasn’t). The detail of the history and background are set out in the report of that committee which is on the internet.
Creative commons acknowledgment for the photograph.
by | Aug 23, 2023 | Uncategorized
The Bell Group litigation was the subject of my first ever post to this blog back in June 2009.
In September 2020, it was up to Master Sanderson to make orders terminating the winding up. I have set out the whole judgment in full below. It’s not very long. If you are really impatient skip straight to paragraphs 7-8. Alternatively, you can find it at 2020 WASC 347.
These reasons are not so much a judgment as a requiem.
This was an application to terminate the winding up by Bell Group (UK) Holdings Ltd (In liq) (the company) of Western Interstate Pty Ltd. This was one of a group of companies around which what is known as the ‘Bell litigation’ swirled for 25 years.
Thousands of people worked on this case. Most have put the experience behind them and moved on; many, shattered by the experience, have retired; more than a few have gone mad. Now the guns have fallen silent. The smell of cordite, gun powder and napalm no longer fills the air. The dead and wounded have been removed from the battle field. The victors have divided the spoils and departed.
The trial involving this company, and others, lasted for 404 days between July 2003 and September 2006. The judgment took two years and ran to 2,643 pages. The trial judge was Justice Neville Owen. No Australian judge before or since could have handled the case better than his Honour. Anyone who dips into the judgment – and I do not for a moment suggest anyone should read it in its entirety – will be struck by the detailed consideration of the evidence, the careful balancing of the issues and the clear exposition of a difficult area of the law.
The defendants in the action were a group of banks. At first instance they were held liable. They appealed. Not only did they lose the appeal, they lost the cross‑appeal and the amount of damages was increased. The banks made an application for special leave to appeal to the High Court. Astonishingly, they were successful. At this point even the bare‑knuckled litigators were exhausted. The action was settled. More than a billion dollars was to be divided between the plaintiffs.
The plaintiffs then set to squabbling among themselves. For years they had an uneasy relationship with one another but were united against a common foe. Now the prospect of vast riches proved too much. The relationship rapidly became poisonous. Years passed and no resolution proved possible. The battle lines were drawn. The State government attempted to resolve the matter by effectively confiscating the proceeds of the case and paying to each of the parties what they deemed to be a fair entitlement. This strategy failed spectacularly – the legislation was struck down by the High Court. At a directions hearing, not long after the High Court decision, I was told by counsel they anticipated the trial of the issues between the plaintiffs would take longer to hear than the original case. A date was set for trial. Then someone blinked. Further negotiations took place. Mercifully, the matter settled.
Over the years, I dealt with the case on more than a dozen occasions. Most of these hearings were for judicial directions. It was clear there existed between counsel a mutual loathing. That was probably due to frustration – not only frustration with the glacial progress of the case, but frustration with the clients. Occasionally, agreement was reached – the time of the day, the day of the week – but agreement was otherwise rare. Invariably, the liquidator was represented by Vaughan SC (as his Honour then was). There were times when I thought even his sphinx‑like visage would crack. But somehow, the matter edged forward. Now it is settled and it remained for me to give this, and other companies in the group, a decent burial.
It was tempting to drive a wooden stake through the heart of the company to ensure it does not rise zombie‑like from the grave. As an alternative, I considered ordering the files be removed to a secure facility in Roswell and marked: ‘Never to be opened’. In the end, trusting in divine providence, I made the following orders:
1. The applicant have leave to discontinue the winding up application.
2. The applicant’s winding up application is hereby dismissed.
3. There be no orders as to costs as to the winding up application.
Creative commons acknowledgment for the photograph.
by | Jul 26, 2023 | Uncategorized
In the early hours of 12 July 1979, Skylab (NASA’s first space station) fell out of orbit and crashed to earth. Although it scattered wreckage in an arc over the Indian Ocean parts of it came to rest at Balladonia in Western Australia. That would be Balladonia, population 14, which is located 900+ km east of Perth (i.e. out in the desert).
I have recently returned from a road trip holiday (I drove to Perth). In my travels, I stayed overnight at the Balladonia Roadhouse and visited the small onsite museum which has some Skylab memorabilia. I had heard stories which I didn’t believe, that the local shire council issued a littering fine to NASA for the mess that their space station created. It turns out those stories are true! It’s my photo of the infringement notice which appears with this post. Apparently it’s also true that US President Carter personally called the Roadhouse and offered to make good any damage caused by the falling Skylab (there wasn’t any).
The infringement notice was personally handed to a NASA representative when they visited Balladonia. This apparently caused a good natured “diplomatic incident”. The fine was never paid.
