Seven West Media Chairman and billionaire bully Kerry Stokes has finally got what he demanded from the Supreme Court of NSW and had an interlocutory judgement handed down in his favour on Friday. It took him three goes in under 4 weeks and an obliging Justice Peter Hall to override the judgement of Justice Harrison, but he got there.
I am not going to get into Justice Hall’s judgement too much as there is no need. The fact that it was the third application for the same orders in less than 4 weeks says it all, hence the title “Money talks at the Supreme Court of NSW….”. It is the broader abuse of the judicial and legal system that is the main game here. So I will raise only three of the failings of his judgement.
It is worth noting that this matter is on page 4 of this weekends Australian Financial Review which I am sure will make Kerry Stokes happy given his multiple attempts for a suppression order so his name could not be revealed in the press. It is behind a paywall although you can see the first bit. (Click here to read)
When you read this just remember this about the Kerry Stokes. Justice Sackville said in regards to Kerry Stokes when giving evidence under oath in the infamous C7 case “There were occasions on which, in my opinion, he gave evidence that he knew was not true.” “Mr Stokes evidence on this issue was not only implausible but, I must conclude, deliberately false,” Justice Sackville said. (Click here to read more) And the definition of a perjurer is “a person who deliberately gives false testimony”. (Click here to read)
Justice Hall tried his judicial bully tactics first up. I was in court on the 7 th of May trying to have the hearing adjourned as I was given less than 2 days notice to prepare instead of the required 3 full days minimum. Stokes was up to his old dirty tricks. Justice Hall said to me, for talking out of turn, words to the effect that if I disobey him there will be consequences. I said “Don’t threaten me, you’re a public servant and you work for me and you would do well to remember that”. I don’t cop garbage from dodgy bullying judges and Hall backed off with his threats. But Stokes had been judge shopping and Hall was his man.
Background
I will keep this brief. Kerry Stokes and Justine Munsie filed their defamation proceedings on the 14th April and asked for an expedited hearing to have a suppression order on the matter. Without my knowledge Kerry Stokes had private communication with Justice Harrison and he put a suppression order on for four days and they filed and served their notice of motion the next day. This was the first notice of motion and I had less than 2 days to prepare. They were seeking a blanket suppression order where I could not speak about anything in relation to the case which is paragraph 5 and 6. (Click here to read the first application)
I knew something was badly wrong and wrote a post on the 16th of April titled “Kerry Stokes has suppression order put on defamation proceedings against KCA publisher” which is now subject of contempt proceedings. (Click here to read)
They then filed a second notice of motion filed on the 17th of April which Justice Harrison allowed them to hand up in court, in spite of objections from me, then we argued both applications immediately. The second application went even further with the orders they were seeking which is paragraph 4 and 5 (Click here to read Stokes second application) This time they also wanted a suppression order so I could not name Kerry Stokes lawyers and barrister Sandy Dawson.
Justice Harrison handed down his judgement on the 24th April and Kerry Stokes lost. (Click here to read the judgement)
Like the sore loser he is and with deep pockets and with a barrister like Sandy Dawson willing to lie and deceive the courts Kerry Stokes had another go and filed a 3rd application. (Click here to read Kerry Stokes 3rd application)
Kerry Stokes said jump and Justice Peter Hall on behalf of the Supreme Court of NSW said “How high Mr Stokes” and gave him the judgment Kerry Stokes wanted. (Click here to read the judgement) or (Click here to read). Although they had watered down the original orders they wanted under Justice Harrison. So we did have a bit of a win and I can report about the case.
Chief Justice Tom Bathurst – He sees nothing and hears nothing
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Peter Hall’s judgement
Justice Peter Hall has overturned the judgement of Justice Harrison which was only handed down a few weeks ago on the 24th April. Justice Hall has in effect called Justice Harrison an incompetent derelict fool who has no clue or idea of the law.
Justice Hall has lied and deceived in the judgement. In Hall’s judgement he clearly tries to make out that there had only been one previous application by Stokes where at paragraph 31/32 Hall says “The First Application for Interlocutory Injunctive Relief”, he does not mention the second application. This is important because if you know that Stokes had already made one application it would make you worried why he had been able to make a second application. But if you know that he had in fact made two previous applications only a few weeks prior then you realise how scandalous it was for Justice Hall to allow Kerry Stokes a third attempt.
At the beginning of the hearing I asked Justice Hall to dismiss the matter on the basis that is was an abuse of process given that it was Stokes third attempt in less than a month. He refused and does not mention it in his judgement. Why? Because he would have to mention that it was Stokes third attempt which is embarrassing for Justice Hall as it shows how corrupt he is.
I also asked Justice Hall to stand down from hearing the matter for perceived bias (also known as apprehended bias) given he is good mates with former federal court judge Roger Gyles who is the subject of the second chapter of my book about judicial corruption. Hall was a reader for Gyles when he first started as a barrister and also worked with him at the NSW Royal Commission into unions in the early 1990’s at Gyles request. They are good mates and Hall mentioned him many times at his swearing in as a judge.
A copy of the book was part of the evidence before Justice Harrison although Justice Hall said it was no longer there. I gave him another copy which he handed back and would not allow as evidence as he said it might go missing again. Gyles is a grub and also gets plenty of mention on this site and will do in the future given he is now the Chairman of Transparency International Australia which is an anti-corruption organisation. (Yes we have a criminal like Gyles fighting crime at TIA).
There were other grounds for him to stand down as well such as his threat but he refused. He made out that he barely knew Gyles which was a lie. Yes, my request for him to stand down from hearing the case gets no mention in Justice Hall’s judgement either. Wonder why?
Scandalising the court
Even if Justice Hall’s judgement was true and correct (which it isn’t) at least he has confirmed that barrister Sandy Dawson is an incompetent fool. Mr Dawson is meant to be one of the top guns in defamation law. If so, why did he need three goes at it? The truth is Mr Dawson is not even a pop gun let alone a top gun. The man is a major league fool. That is why I wrote my previous post on him pointing out how he lies and deceives the court from the bar table and there is nothing Mr Dawson can do. Why? Because it is true. (Click here to read about the handiwork of Sandy Dawson) The performance of Sandy Dawson alone scandalises the court. Both Justice Harrison and Justice Hall have turned a blind eye to it and so has Chief Justice Bathurst.
Why is Stokes so desperate? All he is doing is making himself look more and more like the bully he is. It must be remembered that I published articles on Stokes in 2011 (Click here) and 2013 (Click here) which are still on this site so he achieved very little by making me take one post down. I think what Stokes is doing is in part at least relevant to the fact that Channel 7, Justine Munsie and Mercedes Corby are still negotiating the costs in relation to their court case with the federal police which is relevant to the post that I did on them. That is due back in the federal court this coming Friday before Justice Jagot if they cannot agree on costs.
Where is all this heading? The obvious is more posts on documented evidence of corruption the courts. I am sitting on a fair bit in relation to Stokes and will reveal all at the right time. Another option is to return serve and file an application for contempt against Kerry Stokes, Justine Munsie and his barrister Sandy Dawson.
The battle lines have been drawn well and truly with Kerry Stokes and his girlfriend Justine Munsie and there is plenty of work to do over the next few weeks. The next official court date is the 13th June for a directions hearing, although knowing Stokes we will be back in court sooner. Can we win? Yes. We need to win as this is not just an attack on me and this site. Kerry Stokes is attacking democracy in Australia which impacts on everyone and it is about time billionaire bullies like him were stopped. He thinks he owns the country, the courts and even worse he thinks he owns the people.
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