Houda speaks out on police discrimination and prejudice

Posted on September 17, 2010 by Admin

Adam Houda has been arrested again while walking near his home in what he says is the most outrageous example yet of racial vilification, harassment and brutality by police. The incident brings to five the number of times Mr Houda has been arrested or detained in the past decade, including a well-publicised occasion involving the former Bulldogs rugby league player Hazem El Masri. None of the earlier incidents led to a conviction, instead they produced apologies and more than $150,000 in compensation from the NSW police.

At about 8pm on Thursday, Mr Houda was walking near his Yagoona home with his brother Bassam and friend Mohammed Hawa when they were asked for identification by two plainclothes police officers in an unmarked car. When Mr Houda asked why, they said they were investigating a robbery and he fitted the suspect’s description. ”We were polite the whole time,” Mr Houda said. ”When it became too silly for words, I said ‘Look, am I under arrest for anything?”’

When the more senior officer said no, Mr Houda said he began walking towards his home and was grabbed and handcuffed by the other officer, causing ”excruciating pain” to his wrist. ”It got to the point where I felt I was going to pass out,” Mr Houda, 35, who suffers from a heart condition, said. Mr Houda said five other police arrived and he was placed in the back of a paddy wagon, taken to Bankstown police station, locked in a cell without his medication and not allowed to call a lawyer or a support person.

The devout Lebanese Muslim, who has represented terrorism-accused clients such as Belal Khazaal and Izhar ul-Haque, has welts on his wrists and symptoms consistent with neuroplaxia in his left hand, his doctor, Jamal Rifi, said. Mr Houda received $145,000 in compensation after he was wrongfully arrested at Burwood Local Court in 2000 and an apology after he and El Masri were surrounded by nine police in 2007 when they refused to provide identification outside a Regents Park cafe.

Thursday was the third time since 2007 that he has been detained while walking near his Yagoona home and he received a confidential payout after suing over the previous arrest, last year.

Mr Houda said he has audio recordings of Thursday’s arrest and intends to sue the police and report it to the Police Commissioner, the Ombudsman and the Police Integrity Commission. Dr Rifi, who is on a community policing advisory group to the Police Commissioner, Andrew Scipione, said his experience was similar to many others in Sydney’s Lebanese Muslim community.

But the South West Metropolitan Region Commander, Assistant Commissioner Frank Mennilli, said Mr Houda did not comply with a lawful direction from police and would receive a summons ”for not complying with a request to submit to a search and resist arrest”.

”Police officers were conducting proactive patrols in the Yagoona area following a series of robberies involving knives,” he said.

Sexual Abuse Claims Rock Knox Grammar School

Posted on September 17, 2010October 13, 2023 by Admin

Knox sued for $1m over inaction on sex victim Saffron Howden

In a new turn of events which just seem to go from bad to worse for know grammar school, the school is now being sued for more than $1 million over claims it neglected its duty of care to one alleged victim. In a statement of claim filed in the Supreme Court, a 40-year-old man, accused the North Shore private school of failing to provide a safe environment to ensure ”he was not exposed to the risk of sexual predation by teachers”.

As an employer, Know is obligated to provide a safe environment for anyone in public and the claim is that Knox failed to investigate complaints of abuse and was vicariously liable for some teachers’ conduct. Five former teachers have been charged with child sex offences dating back to the 1970s and ’80s. Of those, four have acknowledged guilt. Most recently, Adrian John Nisbett, 61, yesterday admitted to sexual assault to three boys then aged 16 and 17. The man suing the school states that when he was in years 5 and 6, a teacher twice groped his genitals in public. In the first instance another teacher watched on but did nothing, he said in a statement of claim.

”[The teacher] demonstrated to the school community a … tendency to inappropriately touch students by purporting to tuck their shirts into their trousers, fondling and by other means as opportunity presented,” his claim stated.

The man is now a disability pensioner living with depression caused, he said, by the damage and injury he suffered as a result of the alleged assaults.

”Their conduct was not in any way circumscribed or curtailed by the first defendant [Knox] despite its … nature and even when observed by other staff members,” he alleged. His total claim against the school and one former teacher is expected to amount to more than $1 million.

”It takes courage for our client to pursue his rights against the school and the teacher directly involved,” Ross Koffel, the director of law firm Koffels, said.

Defamation cases on the rise – District Court appoints more Judges

Posted on September 17, 2010September 11, 2023 by Admin

A new debate has blown up over the use of juries in civil trials against the merits of the use of judges for determining such disputes. Attitudes on the matter swing from viewing the jury as the rock upon which justice rests, the font of community standards, the watchdog of democratic rights and the great balancing mechanism. Others view juries as a pain the the arse, irrational, and observe that their reasoning cannot be subject to analysis or appeal, they create delay and expense and frequently botch the case.

Justice Peter McClellan of the Supreme Court thinks juries in defamation cases are a useless appendage in the struggle between free speech and the protection of reputation: ”I think defamation cases would be best determined by judges.” McClellan quotes Robert Menzies who said: ”The civil jury system ought to be abolished. I make no qualification on that, either. I regard the system as incompetent, unessential and corrupt.” However, Judge Judith Gibson is on the record as saying: ”Juries are such an important public barometer on many issues, particularly where there is a media defendant. The role of the jury must be energetically defended as it’s of very great benefit,” Gibson said. Recently, judges Michael Bozic and Michael Elkaim have been appointed. Another seven judges are to pack down in what is now known as the Defamation Panel: Colin Charteris, Andrew Colefax, Peter Johnstone, Len Levy, Ray McLoughlin, Stephen Walmsley and, for good measure, Gibson.

McClellan said: ”The demand on the resources of the Supreme Court should not be consumed by litigation which can be appropriately dealt with in the District Court.” Media lawyers are perplexed and concerned. What does this ”resourcing” of the District Court defamation jurisdiction tell you? From one judge, suddenly we have nine on defamation watch. This seems to indicate that there are a lot of defamation related cases appearing in the courts. Many of the cases appear to be related to social media and Facebook which make social interaction in a recordable form much more accessible and therefore make the risk of defamation much higher in the course of ordinary activities. So if you need to to print and file your amicus curiae brief for the U.S. Supreme Court, you may trust reliable amicus curiae brief printing services to print your important documents.

Results of the Ernie Awards for Sexism are out

Posted on September 17, 2010 by Admin

Some of the most sexist people in Australia for 2010 have featured Tony Abbot, Mark McInnes, Joe – Hockey FHM magazine and St Pauls College students. Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has taken out two Ernie Awards at the 18th annual forum which names and shames public figures for making sexist comments throughout the year. The winners are determined by how loud the 300 women who attend the event at NSW Parliament House in Sydney howl, hiss and boo the nominations. But he missed out on the top prize this year, the Gold Ernie, which went to a group of university students at St Paul’s College in Sydney for setting up a pro-rape Facebook page. The college’s “Define Statutory” group, which defined itself as “pro-rape, anti-consent”, was condemned by women’s groups, the government and police when it came to light last November.

Mr Abbott won a Political Silver Ernie award for such comments as “What the housewives of Australia need to understand as they do the ironing …”, at the awards show in Sydney on Thursday night. He was the favourite to win the political category after being nominated this year eight times. Mr Hockey was twice nominated for the political Ernie this year, including his election campaign gaffe: “(Treasurer) Wayne Swan is to surpluses, what Paris Hilton is to celibacy”.

Former David Jones CEO Mark McInnes shared this year’s Industrial Silver Ernie with mining magnate Clive Palmer. Mr McInnes was dishonoured for allegedly telling his former secretary she was “overreacting” after he casually touched her breast. Mr Palmer shared the gong for telling pregnant federal Housing Minister Tanya Plibersek, “you shouldn’t get too excited in your fragile condition”.

The awards provide an interesting commentary on the state of sexism and sex discrimination in Australia. Evidently, there are still widely prevailing problems relating to the existence of sexism and sex discrimination in Australia.

Constitutional Law amendment suggested by Gillard

Posted on September 14, 2010 by Admin

In one of the more surprising moves by the new Gillard government, under Julia Gillard has pledged a referendum on whether to recognize indigenous peoples in the constitution. There is also a move afoot to do this in New South Wales. However, the federal level referendum will be more difficult to achieve given the majority of voters needed in a majority of states. Aborigines have long sought recognition in our national and state constitutions because these fundamental laws have either ignored their existence or permitted discrimination against them. They also argue that the story of our nation is incomplete without the histories of the peoples who inhabited the continent before white settlement.

Arguably, the Constitution was drafted by a racist nation. The result was a constitution that referred to Aborigines only in negative terms. Section 127 even made it unlawful to include ”Aboriginal natives” when counting the number of ”people” of the Commonwealth. An unsuccessful attempt was made to recognise indigenous peoples in the constitution at the 1999 republic referendum. The states then took the lead, bolstered by the advantage of not needing to hold a referendum. Victoria and then Queensland have reformed their constitutions by way of a simple act of Parliament. The change introduced by Premier Kristina Keneally into the NSW Parliament last week follows the same approach. The passage of the bill is assured after being supported in heartfelt speeches by Keneally, Opposition Leader Barry O’Farrell and the indigenous minister, Linda Burney.

These are fine words, but it must be remembered that they are just words. The section will do no more than make a symbolic change to the state constitution. Kevin Rudd was hailed as a hero for having finally gotten to the point to saying sorry to the stolen generations. However, the actual living standards of aboriginal people in terms of health care, education and literacy, rates of imprisonment and other indicators of social well being have not seen any marked improvement since Mr Rudd;s apology. Despite the fact that symbolism can be important, it can also obfuscate the true nature of the problem by glibly apologizing without any act that supports the sincerity of the apology.

Intellectual Property – Hershey’s Copyright battle over Virtual Milk

Posted on September 14, 2010 by Admin

The american Chocolate maker Hershey wants a judge to let it keep on making virtual chocolate milk. The Pennsylvania company filed a complaint in June asking a federal judge to decide whether an application it created for the iPhone and similar devices violates a copyright held by Las Vegas-based software developer Hottrix.

The two companies are battling over respective iPhone apps that both involve making virtual chocolate milk. Hottrix filed a counterclaim this this week saying Hershey had improperly used its intellectual property, costing it more than $US12 million in lost profits and damage to its brand. It said the Hershey app “dilutes the market and serves to destroy the distinctiveness of Hottrix’ copyrighted works”.

Company lawyer Jason Fisher said Hottrix’s $US3 iMilk app came first and includes plain milk and strawberry milk. Hottrix’s court filing said Hershey’s free app has been downloaded more than 4 million times. Fisher said Hottrix previously settled a similar dispute with Coors over a beer-related app on confidential terms. Hershey’s legal filing says the app it launched in October is much different, including its use of a red and white straw to “drain” milk from the phone screen.

“Unlike the Hottrix application, the Hershey’s Chocolate Milk iPhone application ‘milk’ cannot be ‘drunk’ from the iPhone by tipping the phone (which is the only mechanism for drinking the milk in the Hottrix application), but can only be ‘drunk’ by use of the virtual straw,” according to the lawsuit, filed June 2 in US Middle District Court in Harrisburg.

This type of case is becoming far more common as the legal elements and status of iPhone software is becoming clearer int he wake of several intellectual property battles which began over the property in these apps which are now becoming more and more valuable as the use of the iPhone expands around the world. This case is likely to set an interesting precedent.

Australian Securities and Investments Commission faces loosing one of its Jobs

Posted on September 14, 2010 by Admin

In what is expected to result in some rolling heads, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission will be chastised today by the final report of the Senate inquiry into liquidators and administrators. There is the possibility that the regulator will have the role of supervising liquidators taken over by another agency although it is unclear who or what would replace it.

The management of the economy is obviously in flux at the moment with the uncertainty of the government. It is likely that those at the reins of our economic system do not have any of the necessary qualifications, let alone skills to deal with the enormous task of setting government economic policy. Late yesterday afternoon, the new government was still trying to work out who would have responsibilities for what after the apparently haphazard re-jigging of ministerial titles. Bill Shorten, the governor general’s son in law will be busy as he picks up administration of APRA with its prudential regulation of banking, insurance and superannuation. And he will have responsibility for whatever taxation law is delegated to him by the Treasurer – as well as administration of tax law and ATO matters. Oh, there’s responsibility for the response to the Cooper Review and taxation and regulation in regard to superannuation too.

Labor’s macro economic performance over the past three years has been its greatest achievement, the reason why it’s reasonable for it to have a second term. Too bad much of the electorate seemed to miss that, which might lead you to suspect that Wayne Swan couldn’t sell tinsel at Christmas. Tanner could sell the tree as well. Tanner was as much de facto Treasurer and Finance Minister, the bloke who could talk economics with credibility and a little style. Labor’s just fortunate that the coalition’s self-proclaimed economic expertise is not demonstrated by anything it has said or done for the past three years – and there’s no sign of that changing either.

Judge says that Glen Tabak lied about relationship with Beth Morgan

Posted on September 13, 2010June 4, 2024 by Admin

His Honour Solomon J, has commented that corruption in NSW “must be overcome”. The judge has dismissed an appeal by a Wollongong developer, Glen Tabak, convicted of lying to the corruption watchdog.

“The community must be told loudly and clearly that corruption in this state is a problem and must be overcome,” Judge Ronald Solomon said in Sydney’s Downing Centre District Court today.
In July, developer Glen Tabak pleaded guilty at the Downing Centre Local Court to making a false statement to the Independent Commission Against Corruption in a document dated June 2007. In that statement, Tabak denied being in a relationship with Wollongong City Council employee Beth Morgan, who was involved in the council’s construction approval process. Confirm the truth accurately with a lie detector.

“Persons who deal with ICAC must be full and frank with their disclosures, so deterrence is of great importance when it comes to these matters,” Judge Solomon said.

Tabak declined to comment to reporters outside court. The incident has highlighted the depth of the problem of corruption in New South Wales. The trust of ordinary people in the system is likely to sink to endemic lows as news of this incident reaches the community in general. The judge was, however, determined to sent a message that corruption and lying will not be tolerated by the legal system and that people who do this will pay the price for their actions. However, a fine of $2500.00 does not seem sufficient to account for the development profits which could have been reaped from the ability to sway the council through graft and corruption such as this. It leaves much doubt as to how government operates in a broader sense. Tabak had connections to senior people in the political process and other areas of government. It is unknown what other decisions may have been influenced by these nefarious dealings.

Terms and conditions sale of goods to business or consumers: short form

Posted on September 12, 2010 by Admin

It is a very common occurrence in business that there is a need to draft a set of terms and conditions for sale of goods or services by a business to consumers. We have a template available which can be customized to suit your business. This document is called a Terms and conditions sale of goods to business or consumers: short form

Provides a critical framework to help safeguard your business. Includes all necessary provisions and complies with the Data Protection legislation. Suitable for all goods being sold within Australia, or overseas. If you trade over the Internet, use specific our e-commerce version – Terms and conditions sale of goods to business or consumers: short form.

About this document

This is a standard terms and conditions document for a manufacturer or merchant in any business selling goods of any sort where payment is not made over the Internet, but in some other way, such as by cheque, cash or bank transfer. The business may however, have a website – just that there shall be no e-commerce faciltity. This document is suitable for use within the UK or European Union or overseas.

Application and features

Standard, non-negotiable “terms and conditions”, intended to be drawn to the attention of customers or prospective customers by printing on the reverse of quotation form, printing in catalogue or on similar document;
Comprehensive, plain English document incorporating all the most usual provisions.
Incorporates necessary provisions of the Distance Selling Regulations, which may be removed or changed for sales to a business;
Cannot negate UK consumer protection legislation, but provides an essential framework to protect your business;
Includes comprehensive guidance notes.

Contents of this document:

When the contract is made;
Substitute goods;
When and how payment is made;
Delivery, home or abroad;
Goods returned procedure;
Import taxes of recipient (they pay!);
Returns;
Extensive disclaimers;
Appropriate legal provisions (warranties, exclusions, indemnities) to protect your interests.

To obtain this document simply click here:

Terms and conditions sale of goods to business or consumers: short form

Defacto Separation and the law

Posted on September 12, 2010 by Admin

The increasingly common relationship model of being involved in a long term de-facto relationship without ever getting married is now one of the most common things that lawyers are asked about. Although being a de-facto now is technically not the same as marriage, substantively in virtually every important respect, the rights and obligations of the parties are the same in relation to a defacto relationship as they are in a marriage. Since March 2009, there has been a uniform national system of law in place which means that once someone is classified under the de facto umbrella, all of the considerations and process in relation to important issues like separation, property rights, child custody and all other issues are by law borught into conformity with the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) Rules on determining the outcomes of marriage break ups. So what does this mean if you are in a defacto relationship?

One of the issues that can be in dispute is the date of separation because this can determine when it is possible to apply for divorce in relation to a marriage (1 year). This rule does not apply to a defacto separation, but the date of separation should usually be formalized with a separation certificate so that there is no confusion later on in relation to the true date of separation and how this applies to time limitations. Broadly, in terms of property rights, it is all by negotiation but if this breaks down then a court will decide using the four step process of assessing the assets, the contributions of the parties, the future needs of the parties and what is called any just and equitable considerations. In terms of parenting orders, everything by law revolves around what is in the best interests of the children. If you would like some more assistance with understanding how the law applies to your situation, please do not hesitate to contact us using the contact form to the right.