Practice and procedure — Overarching obligations — Wasted costs jurisdiction — Proper basis for claim or response — Costs sought against unsuccessful plaintiff's solicitor — Conduct engaging wasted costs jurisdiction against solicitors — Discretionary factors — Effect of maintained client legal privilege — Supreme Court Act 1986 (Vic) s 24(1)

Legal practitioners — Solicitors — Costs — Liability for successful party's costs in wasted costs jurisdiction and pursuant to Civil Procedure Act 2010 (Vic)

Criminal law — Sentencing — Indefinite sentence — Discharge — Relationship between Sentencing Act 1991 and Serious Sex Offenders (Supervision and Detention) Act 2009 — Paedophile offender — Serious danger to community if released unsupervised — Discharge application refused — Principles — Statutory construction impinging least on offender's liberty to be preferred — Indefinite term imprisonment only in exceptional cases — Sufficiency of serious sex offenders legislative regime warranting discharge — Offender made subject to five year re-integration period — ``Sentence'' — Sentencing Act 1991 (Vic) ss 5(2AA), 5(2BD), 18B, 18M, 18O, 18L — Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006 (Vic) ss 21, 32(1) — Serious Sex Offenders (Supervision and Detention) Act 2009 (Vic)

Criminal law — Sentencing — Indefinite sentence — Discharge — Appeal against refusal to discharge — Nature of appeal — Amenability of indefinite sentence to judicial review — Appeal in strict sense — Sentencing Act 1991 (Vic) ss 5(2AA), 5(2BD), 18B, 18M, 18O, 18L

Prerogative writs — Certiorari and mandamus — Whether available in respect of decision to transfer prisoner to more restrictive accommodation — Whether legal duty capable of enforcement by way of mandamus — Whether decision subject to requirement to observe procedural fairness — Corrections Act 1986 (Vic) ss 20(2), 21, 47(1)(c)

Administrative law — Judicial review — Privative clause — Police Integrity Act 2008 (Vic) ss 40(4)(b)(1), 52, 109(1)

Human rights — Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities — Equality before law — Equal protection of law without discrimination — Freedom from cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment — Complaint of assault by police — Whether implied procedural right to effective investigation of complaint — Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006 (Vic) ss 8(3), 10(b), 32, 38(1)

Criminal law — Murder — Joint criminal enterprise — Admissibility of evidence relevant to implementation and concealment of enterprise — Post-offence conduct — Proof of participation in joint enterprise

Criminal law — Evidence — Incriminating conduct — Statutory interpretation — Part 6 Jury Directions Act 2013 (Vic) — Post-offence conduct involving concealment of crime and disposal of body — Notice of evidence of incriminating conduct — Crown eschews reliance on evidence as incriminating conduct — Literal construction of s 25 requires explicit reliance on evidence of incriminating conduct — Reading in of word `explicit' if necessary to give effect to legislative intent — Direction under s 25 not required — Circumstances in which direction under s 27 may be required — Whether judge required to give direction under s 27 when not requested — No substantial risk of use of evidence as implied admission — Direction to exclude innocent hypothesis — Interpretation of Legislation Act 1984 (Vic) s 35 — Jury Directions Act 2013 (Vic) ss 1, 9, 15, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28

Criminal law — Evidence — Verdict not unsafe or unsatisfactory — Combined effect of circumstantial evidence — Application of Weissensteiner v The Queen considered — Appeal dismissed — Jury Directions Act 2015 (Vic) s 42(b)

Criminal law — Conviction — Appeal — Indecent act with a child under 16 — Sexual penetration of a child under 16 — Reliability of complainants — Whether convictions unsafe and unsatisfactory — Age of complainants relevant to jury assessment of reliability — Conviction reasonably open to jury — Application for leave to appeal refused

Criminal procedure — Change of plea — Whether judge erred in not accepting change to plea of guilty prior to sentencing — Test to be applied in change of plea applications is whether there would be a miscarriage of justice — Whether `genuine consciousness of guilt' separate question under test — No issue as to accused's belief of guilt raised — Whether proof of belief in guilt required — Review of authorities on change of plea — Appeal dismissed

Companies — Winding up — Liquidators — Application for directions — Liquidators acting in conflict of interest — Need for contradictor — Approval of settlement of claims against liquidators — Priority of amounts payable by liquidators under settlement agreements — Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) ss 477(2B), 511, 556, 1322(4)(d)

Contract — Interpretation — Suite of transaction documents — Sale of shares agreement — Shareholder agreement — Put and call option deed — Company's constitution – Entire agreement clause — Further assurances clause — Whether obligation to pay dividend — Whether transaction under separate agreement is a `transaction contemplated by this agreement'

Companies — Dividends — Contractual obligation to procure payment of dividend — Distributable profits — Capital profits — Whether reserves able to be treated as profits available for payment of dividends — Whether prior year losses to be taken into account — Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) ss 254T, 254W

Contract — Formation — Building owner and building surveyor — Statutory scheme for issue of building permits — Provision for permit application to be made by or on behalf of owner of building or of land — Building surveyor appointed by builder — Whether contract between owner and surveyor created or imputed by statute — Building Act 1993 (Vic) ss 17, 24, 70, 78 — Building Regulations 1994 (Vic) reg 2.6

Contract — Implied terms — Building contract — Contract between owner and building surveyor — Issue of building permits by building surveyor under Building Act 1993 — Whether implied obligation to inform owner that planning permit had expired

Negligence — Duty of care — Economic loss — Vulnerability — Building surveyor and owner — Delay in completion of commercial project — Loss of owner in the form of financial loss — Liability of building surveyor to owner

Limitation of actions — Building actions — Whether ‘long-stop’ or ‘absolute cap’ — Building Act 1993 (Vic) ss 129, 130, 134 — Limitation of Actions Act 1958 (Vic) ss 5, 33

Practice and procedure — Pleadings — Amendment — Whether amendment relates back to date of writ — Whether court had discretion to order that amendment operate from date of amendment — Rule in Weldon v Neal — Limitation of Actions Act 1958 (Vic) s 34 — Supreme Court (General Civil Procedure) Rules 2005 r 36.01(6)

Practice and procedure — Material tendered in Court but not referred to in evidence or submissions — Whether Court obliged to examine or consider

Appeal — Claim for breach of contract reformulated on appeal — Damages for breach — Whether order for remittal should be made — Reformulation a significant departure from case as pleaded and run — Fairness

Costs — Costs of trial — Solicitor/client costs — Calderbank offer rejected — Reasonableness — Further cause of action added during the trial — Whether added cause of action should be taken into account in assessing reasonableness of rejection of offer — Time at which reasonableness to be assessed

Town and Country planning — Planning scheme — Third party rights of objection — Grant of permit for commercial development — After application for review of permit lodged, planning scheme amended to remove objection rights if site not within 30 metres of ‘education centre’ — Meaning of ‘education centre’ — Planning and Environment Act 1987 (Vic) ss 5, 82(1) — Macedon Ranges Planning Scheme cl 74 — Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 1998 (Vic) s 75(1) — Interpretation of Legislation Act 1984 (Vic) s 28(2)

Words and phrases — ‘Education centre’

Human rights — Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities — Inherent dignity of human person — Involuntary forensic patient — Smoke Free Policy — Right not to be subjected to compulsory medical treatment — Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006 (Vic) ss 10(c), 20, 22(1), 22(3)

Human rights — Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities — Introduction of new policy — Obligation on public authorities to give proper consideration to relevant human rights — Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006 (Vic) s 38(1)

Administrative law — Statutory corporation — Power to do all things necessary or convenient in connection with the performance of functions — Whether power extends to introduction of Smoke Free Policy — Mental Health Act 2014 (Vic) s 331(1)

Statutory interpretation — Whether a statutory right to smoke in outdoor areas of designated mental health service — Tobacco Act 1987 (Vic) s 5A

Town and country planning – Planning scheme — Permit for proposed use and development — Construction of mosque — Significant social effects — Objectors calling for responsible authority to obtain independent social impact assessment of proposed use — Need for evidence to substantiate posited adverse impacts — Greater Bendigo Planning Scheme, cls 10.04, 65 — Planning and Environment Act 1987 (Vic) ss 4(1), 60(1)(f)

Human rights — Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities — Freedom of religion and belief, worship, observance — Relevance to town planning — Objections to issue of permit for construction of mosque — Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006 (Vic) ss 14, 19, 32

Words and phrases – ‘Significant social effects’ — ‘Net community benefit’