Chair
Maithri Panagoda AM, Partner, Carroll & O’Dea; Accredited Specialist in Personal Injury
Dead Man’s Defence: High Court Guidance on Permanent Stays
This presentation will track the use of permanent stays in abuse cases following the Royal Commission. From Connellan v Murphy [2017] VSCA 116 and Moubarak v Holt [2019] NSWCA 102 where stays were applied cautiously and with an eye on “exceptional circumstances”, through to BTM1 v Scouts NSW [2023] NSWSC 432, which captured public attention for the wrong reasons, and culminating in the High Court’s decisions in GLJ v Diocese of Lismore [2023] HCA 32, RC v Salvation Army (WA) [2024] HCA 43 and Wilmot v State of QLD [2024] HCA 42.
Presented by John Rule, Principal Lawyer, Maurice Blackburn Lawyers
Description
Attend and earn 0.5 CPD hour in Substantive Law
This program is applicable to practitioners from all States & Territories
Presenters
Maithri Panagoda AM, Partner, Carroll & O’Dea
Maithri Panagoda has over 48 years of experience in litigation and dispute resolution. He heads a team at Carroll & O’Dea Lawyers dedicated to representing survivors of historical abuse. An Accredited Specialist in Personal Injury Law since 1994, he has acted for over 250 members of the Stolen Generations. He is a member of the Law Society’s Specialist Accreditation Advisory Committee. He is an Adjunct Professor of the School of Law, University of Notre Dame.
John Rule, Principal Lawyer, Maurice Blackburn Lawyers
John Rule is a Principal Lawyer in Maurice Blackburn’s Melbourne office. He helps survivors of abuse seek compensation from at-fault institutions and perpetrators. John is trained in trauma informed practice which ensures he works with clients to access justice in a way that recognises the complex trauma they have suffered. John graduated from the University of Melbourne with a Bachelor of Laws in 2010 and completed a Bachelor of Arts at Boston College in 2011. He joined Maurice Blackburn in Victoria later the same year, and was admitted to practice in 2013. John likes to be a positive force for people in the community in their time of need and he has a strong conviction that everyone deserves a ‘fair go’. He understands that the odds are often stacked in such a way that the needs of everyday people often go unmet, and he works hard to redress this.
