We’re proud to announce a brace of fresh entrants to the Noble Order of the Jackboot – in memory of HH’s dictum that in all but exceptional cases the delivery time for judgments should be one month.
Never mind that the Federal Court’s general rule is a timeframe of three months.
Judge Robert Cameron (Div.2 FCFC) was asked to handle a defamation case, Kandola v Holliday-Smith. This concerned negative Google reviews about Mr Kandola’s air-conditioning business and involved consideration of imputations, the defence of justification and the mitigation of damages.
The verdict for the applicant was $25,000, inclusive of interest. There was a one-day hearing on August 1, 2024, with the judgment squeaking in just under two years later, on July 29, 2026.
It’s a long time for Mr Kandola to wait for his $25,000, yet marginally quicker than Judge Cameron’s effort in Te Whaiti v Winc Australia Pty Ltd.
Ms Te Wahiti, a Pacific Islander, was a forklift driver and warehouse hand employed by the respondent. She alleged she had been the subject of nasty racial abuse and sexual harassment from other employees.
The judge heard this in October 2023 and for a day on May 29, 2024, with last submissions on June 17, 2024.
Again, he just beat his self-imposed two-year deadline when he delivered reasons dismissing the applicant’s claims on June 30, 2026.
There are two recent judgments of Justice Scott Goodman of the Federal Court that illustrate that he too should be inducted into the Two Year Club.
In Hadzic v Commissioner of Taxation, HH dismissed an appeal against an AAT decision disallowing objections to income tax assessments. Last submissions were on October 4, 2024, with his reasons 21 months later on July 17, 2026.
In Top Energy Holdings Pty Ltd v Liu, the Club committee was quite impressed with HH’s 23 months delay in a case about a business sale and loan agreements.
With last submissions on July 2, 2024, the parties held their breath till June 4, 2026 – an oxygen-deprived 23 months.
Actually, Jackboots in his Law of Rulers speech from June this year poked his tongue out at Scotty’s two-year-five-month delay in ASIC v Nuix Ltd.
Then there’s Justice John Snaden, appointed to the Federal Court in 2019 by The Very Rev Christian Porter.
Snaden J took a relaxed 14 months to get to grips with Four Air Leitchville Pty Ltd v Hurlad Pty Ltd (No 4).
Maybe he can be excused because this matter, dealing with the purchase of an aeroplane that allegedly was not airworthy, had been under the management of four other judges throughout the course of its unhappy life.
One of our regulars, Judge Allyson Ladhams (aka Det. Chief Inspector Vera), from the Circuit Court, reappears for the fifth time as a permanent contender for the Order of the Jackboot.
Her latest is a 17-monther, dealing with an application for an extension of time – Panlyn Australia Pty Ltd v Minister for Immigration & Citizenship.
While in Perth, there are two from the WA Supremes that need attention.
Our old friend Justice Larissa Strk weighed in at 22 months with Kostezky v City of Joondalup – a stoush with the council over a proposed building development, involving a statement of claim running to 258 paragraphs, and 90 pages.
It was all too much, and 244 paragraphs later Mr Kostezky learned that summary judgment had been entered against him.
Larissa’s brother judge, Gary Cobby, went beyond the two-year mark with LCM Recoveries Pty Ltd (ACN 636 546 999) v Commissioner of Taxation.
It’s all about insolvency, voidable transactions and preferences – enough to bring any reasonable person to tears.