Practice and procedure — Proceeding suppression order — Necessity test — Proceeding suppression order made in disciplinary proceedings in Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal — Disciplinary proceedings arose from notification made to regulator by Family Court of Australia — Materials in Family Court proceeding released to regulator on condition that confidentiality orders sought — Whether order in the interests of justice — Whether order necessary to prevent substantial risk of prejudice to proper administration of justice — Whether scope of order confined to what necessary to achieve purpose — Open Courts Act 2013 (Vic), ss 12, 14, 16, 17, 18 — Family Law Act 1975 (Cth), s 121

Words and phrases — ‘interests of justice’

Legal practitioners — Overarching obligations — Paramount duty to court — Fraudulent scheme to obtain grossly inflated legal costs and litigation funding commission from settlement of group proceeding — Repeated contraventions of duty and obligations — Where conduct corrupted the proper administration of justice — Where solicitor on record played only a post-box role — Where targeted destruction of documents discovered — Civil Procedure Act 2010 (Vic), ss 10, 16–19, 21, 24

Practice and procedure — Paramount duty to court — Whether breach of fiduciary duty to client is a breach of paramount duty to court — Whether solicitor and counsel for lead plaintiff in group proceedings have fiduciary duty to unrepresented group members when negotiating, documenting and seeking court approval of a settlement — Where solicitor on record played only a post-box role — Civil Procedure Act 2010 (Vic), s 16

Practice and procedure — Expert witness — Evidence — Paramount duty to court and overarching obligations of expert witness — Costs lawyer engaged to opine on reasonableness of legal costs — Expert falsely represented compliance with Expert Code of Conduct — Expert not independent and acted as advocate — Failure by expert to make appropriate enquiries, apply specialised knowledge and disclose all facts, matters and assumptions relied on in preparing report — Where contraventions materially contributed to deception of court by other contraveners — Civil Procedure Act 2010 (Vic), ss 10, 16, 21

Legal practitioners — Barristers — Removal from Supreme Court roll on court’s own motion — Where counsel party to fraudulent scheme — Deliberate breach of paramount duty and overarching obligations under Civil Procedure Act 2010 (Vic) — Whether fit and proper persons to remain on the Supreme Court roll – Where defendants concede removal appropriate — Legal Profession Uniform Law (Vic), s 23

Practice and procedure — Death of party — Where contravener of overarching obligations died after joinder to proceeding — Whether jurisdiction to order compensation abated upon defendant’s death — Whether contravention of overarching obligations constitutes a cause of action — Administration and Probate Act 1958 (Vic) — Civil Procedure Act 2010 (Vic), s 29

Practice and procedure — Discovery — Obligations of parties and practitioners to the proper administration of justice — Where targeted destruction of documents discovered — Civil Procedure Act 2010 (Vic), s 16

Practice and procedure — Contraventions of overarching obligations — Compensation — Whether appropriate in the interests of justice to award compensation to group members who suffered loss caused by contraventions — Whether contravening conduct materially contributed to loss — Whether legal costs or other costs or expenses of any person arising from the contravention — Quantification of compensation — Penalty interest — Whether judgment for compensation ought to be limited to the proportionate responsibility of each individual contravener — Civil Procedure Act 2010 (Vic), s 29 — Penalty Interest Rates Act 1983 (Vic) — Wrongs Act 1958 (Vic), pt 4AA

Administrative law — Judicial review — Coroner — Where deceased died without a valid will — Test to be applied by Coroner to decide whether a person has a claim for release of the deceased’s body as executor — Whether Coroner has discretion in determining who has better claim to release of the body — Coroners Act 2008 (Vic), ss 3, 48 — Wills Act 1997 (Vic), ss 7, 9

Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities — Equality before the law — Privacy — Freedom of association — Inconsistency of law with human rights — Claim for custody of body of deceased person — Whether s 48 of the Coroners Act 2008 (Vic) and definition of ‘senior next of kin’ inconsistent with human rights protected under the Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006 (Vic) — Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006 (Vic), ss 7, 8, 13, 16

Equity — Fiduciary obligation — Breach — Accessory liability — Knowing receipt — Solicitor misappropriated client monies from trust account — Whether solicitor’s spouse knowingly received misappropriated trust property — Whether spouse had constructive knowledge or ‘ought to have known’ the source of receipts — Standard of proof of knowledge for liability in knowing receipt — Evidence Act 2008 (Vic), s 140

Courts and judges — Disqualification — Bias — Reasonable apprehension of bias — Trial judge personal friend of chief executive officer of law firm acting for one party — Chief executive officer not involved in conduct of the matter — Whether association with chief executive officer gives rise to reasonable apprehension of bias

Partnership and partners — Fiduciary obligations of partners — Successful claim by partnership of breach of duty against partner — Settlement of proceeding — Whether retired partner not party to settled proceeding estopped from pursuing like claims against defaulting partner — Res judicata — Partnership Act 1958 (Vic), ss 8, 32, 33

Partnership and partners — Contract — Deed of settlement — Settlement of claim by partnership — Whether settlement binding on retired partner not party to deed — Authority to bind partnership — Scope of settlement — Whether manager of partnership entered into deed of settlement on behalf of all partners with an entitlement — Whether manager authorised to enter into deed — Whether intention to enter into deed as agent for principal

Practice and procedure — Abuse of process — Whether proceeding should be stayed — Whether second action unduly or oppressively burdensome to defendant — Whether defendant faces double jeopardy

Tort — Vicarious liability — Assistant priest appointed to Diocese — Assistant priest not an employee or independent contractor of Diocese — Sexual abuse by assistant priest of child in home of parishioners — Whether Diocese vicariously liable for sexual abuse — Whether sexual abuse sufficiently connected with the role and functions of assistant priest so as to be the occasion for the abuse

Criminal law — Appeal — Jurisdiction — Summary offences — Competency of application for leave to appeal — Whether appeal lies to Court of Appeal from County Court exercising appellate jurisdiction from Magistrates’ Court conviction for summary offence — Supreme Court Act 1986 (Vic), s 10(1)(c) — Criminal Procedure Act 2009 (Vic), ss 254, 272 — County Court Act 1958 (Vic), s 74

Criminal law — Appeal — Conviction — Sexual offences — Jury directions — Evidence of complainant’s distress — Whether direction that jury entitled to use evidence of complainant’s distress as indirect evidence supporting prosecution case — Whether jury directions impermissibly invited tendency reasoning — Evidence Act 2008 (Vic), ss 56, 137

Costs — Group proceedings — Group costs order application — Principles governing making of order — Exercise of statutory discretion — Orders appropriate or necessary to ensure justice is done in the proceeding — Supreme Court Act 1986 (Vic), s 33ZDA

Words and phrases — ‘appropriate or necessary’

Companies — Receivers and managers — Appointment out of court — Validity of appointment — Doubt — Corporations Act 2001 (Cth), s 418A

Bankruptcy and insolvency — Receivers and managers — Appointment out of court — Validity of appointment — Corporations Act 2001 (Cth), s 418A

Property — Validity of charge entered into in breach of statutory provision — Where lessee of Crown land granted a charge without obtaining the consent of the Minister — Whether granting a charge over leased land involved encumbering the land — Whether charge invalid — Whether action taken pursuant to charge invalid — Land Act 1958 (Vic), s 137AD

Words and phrases — ‘doubt’

Criminal law — Appeal — Conviction — Sentence — Procedure — Application at trial by the Crown to re-open case after accused gave evidence — Rebuttal evidence — Whether evidence could have reasonably been foreseen — Characterisation of evidence — Material to which reference may be had in determining foreseeability — Criminal Procedure Act 2009 (Vic), s 233(2)

Words and phrases — ‘could not reasonably have been foreseen’