Australia, Dec. 26 -- New South Wales Land and Environment Court issued text of the following judgement on Dec. 13: 1. APC pursues damages against Mr B for child sexual abuse which she claims occurred while he was in a de facto relationship with her mother, who he later married and from whom he is now divorced. APC claims that Mr B first groomed her and then repeatedly sexually abused her while she was aged between 9 and 16 years. Further, that his abuse continued even after she had disclosed i...
Australia, Dec. 26 -- New South Wales Land and Environment Court issued text of the following judgement on Dec. 13: 1. GLEESON JA: On 9, 10 and 11 September 2024, the Court, constituted by Leeming JA, Griffiths AJA and me, heard concurrently three matters: an appeal, a notice of motion in the appeal proceedings for review of certain orders of the Registrar, and a summons seeking a removal order against Mr Christian Roger de Robillard under s 23(1)(c) of the Legal Profession Uniform Law (NSW) (t...
Australia, Dec. 26 -- New South Wales Land and Environment Court issued text of the following judgement on Dec. 13: 1. This is an appeal from a number of decisions of a costs assessment review panel, pursuant to s 89 of the Legal Profession Uniform Law Application Act 2014 (NSW) ("LPULAA"). 2. Under the LPULAA, as between solicitor and client, there is a regime designed to allow a client to make an informed choice as to whether they wish to retain a legal practitioner, and at what rates - this...
Australia, Dec. 26 -- New South Wales Land and Environment Court issued text of the following judgement on Dec. 13: On 3 June 2024, the respondent was sentenced after entering late pleas of guilty for two unrelated sets of offences, referred to respectively as the domestic violence offences and the drug offences. The domestic violence offences comprised one count of cause grievous bodily harm with intent (count 3), with one count of intentionally choke with intent taken into account on a Form ...
Australia, Dec. 26 -- New South Wales Land and Environment Court issued text of the following judgement on Dec. 13: 1. N ADAMS J: I have had the considerable advantage of reading the reasons of Chen J in draft. I agree with the orders proposed by his Honour for the reasons provided. His Honour has summarised the relevant principles derived from the decisions of the High Court when an applicant alleges a miscarriage of justice due to the incompetence of trial counsel at [56]-[62]. What is clear ...
Australia, Dec. 26 -- New South Wales Land and Environment Court issued text of the following judgement on Dec. 13: 1. Mr Ghazi Alnajdi ("the complainant") is of Saudi Arabian Nationality who was granted a Subclass 500 visa to travel to Australia and undertake studies in March 2000. In or around December 2021, the complainant was offered enrolment in a PhD course at The University of Sydney ("the university"), with a commencement date of March 2022. The complainant commenced his course and stud...
Australia, Dec. 26 -- New South Wales Land and Environment Court issued text of the following judgement on Dec. 13: 1. These proceedings concern decisions to remove five children from the care of the Applicants, who are authorised foster carers. 2. Parental responsibility for each of the five children resides with the Minister, Department of Communities and Justice. 3. The Respondent is a designated agency accredited by the Children's Guardian to provide statutory out-of-home care, in the for...
Australia, Dec. 26 -- New South Wales Land and Environment Court issued text of the following judgement on Dec. 13: 1. HER HONOUR: This judgment concerns costs. The proceedings concerned whether an executor was at liberty to exchange contracts for the sale of a farm, or whether executor was bound to sell the farm to interests associated with the testator's son by reason of an alleged oral agreement and the execution of contracts, albeit never exchanged. 2. The executor now seeks indemnity cost...
Australia, Dec. 26 -- New South Wales Land and Environment Court issued text of the following judgement on Dec. 13: 1. HER HONOUR: Two years ago, the plaintiff paid $100,000 for a 'charcoal chicken' business in Mt Druitt, plus an amount for stock, and began operating the business. The landlord was asked to assign the lease to the plaintiff. The business' suppliers were notified of a change of ownership. The vendor and purchaser proceeded to sign a Heads of Agreement. But the vendor changed his ...
Australia, Dec. 26 -- New South Wales Land and Environment Court issued text of the following judgement on Dec. 13: 1. COMMISSIONER: This is an appeal pursuant to s 8.7(1) of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (EPA Act) against the refusal of Development Application DA-23-00018. The development application seeks consent for proposed alterations and additions to a heritage listed building for the operation of a 60-place childcare centre and associated site works. The development ...