ISS already provides counselling and mediation services which are funded by the Attorney-General’s Department.
Federal Attorney-General Nicola Roxon said the service is designed to provide practical support to parents in distressing circumstances.
“We want to make it as straightforward as possible for parents to get the assistance they need when dealing with the abduction of their children from Australia,” Ms Roxon said in a statement.
ISS can be contacted by phoning 1300 657 843 or online at www.iss.org.au
27th March Hobart
9.00am Parliment House Hobart
1.00pm Family Law Court, Hobart
28th March Burnie
9.00am Burnie Federal Magistrates Court
1.00pm Child Protection Office, Burnie
29th March Launceston 9.00am Launceston Family Law Court
1.00pm Child Protection Office, Launceston
NOTICE TO HOLD A PUBLIC ADDRESS
Anyone who wants to turn up needs to let me know if they can as I will have
to advise of numbers on the forms for completion with the local police.
DON’T FORGET….WE HAVE WIGS….WE HAVE GOWNS….
WE HAVE COFFINS….WE HAVE T-SHIRTS….WE HAVE SIGNS…..
WE HAVE A MEGAPHONE…….WE ARE LOUD…..WE WON’T BE SILENCED.
SUPPORT OF US THAT ARE GOING TO THE ROLLING PROTESTS IN
TASMANIA COMMENCING ON 27TH MARCH AT PARLIMENT HOUSE, HOBART.
Look out for photos and stories in local newspapers and also news reports on the TV.
Those of you following our site already know that April 20, 2012 has been set for the Founding Fathers March on Washington at Senate Park on the West Lawn of the Capitol. Designed to promote parenting equality and court reform, it was announced in November, 2011, see related details at www.leonkoziol.com. This week we sent final notices to various supporters and groups known to us. We intend to publish their involvement, if any, so that you might learn whether your group or contributions are producing results.
Now, in our final countdown, we feature short stories from callers and e-mailers as promised in a recent post. We call them the “Parenting Papers”. They are intended to stimulate attendance at next month’s event because our court victims apparently believe that it’s someone else’s job to protest for them- and of course reform will not occur with this kind of attitude. These stories are based on real events. However, names and content have been edited to protect the sources. Our second story of this series, Day 28, is entitled: “Dead Beat Broad”.
Sally Skank did not like to work. For as long as she could remember, her goal in life was to exploit public benefits and latch on to some rich guy so that she could lay around and watch her favorite shows like “Sluts in the City” and “Devil’s Housewives”. The strategy was really quite simple: use her support payments for implants, provocative attire and singles venues until some lonely sap took her bait and became the next victim.
Sally had three children from two prior marriages and a one night stand. Qualifying for all sorts of socialist services, there was nothing stopping her from trapping a few more victims especially since Family Court was free and nobody cared to make her accountable for these crimes upon humanity. In fact, she never even told her last victim that he had a child until she needed that dental re-make years later. The newest support order was enforced right away.
When all her tax- free incomes were applied to prescriptive and non-prescriptive drugs, along with a lotto and on-line gambling habit, child protection eventually stepped in. Sally Skank lost custody of all her children while pregnant with a fourth .She meant to tell the father, Tony Timid , about it, but he was in jail for child support. She also knew he wasn’t getting out any time soon because she had maxed out his credit after the last woman moved out.
Sally’s condition led to therapy and more socialist programs .She lived briefly in a battered woman’s shelter by accusing Tony of domestic abuse, something which she simply made up as the true abuser during hang-overs and rehab periods. Here, Sally learned how to rid herself of all guilt by adopting feminist ideology, blaming her problems upon oppressive men and “dead beat dads”. It fit perfectly in her life’s scheme because, after all, Tony was in jail for child support and no longer able to provide anyone’s children with a proper home.
Fully rehabilitated in this manner, Sally Skank was made ready for her next victim. She met an alcoholic during therapy who lost his children in divorce. He was quite wealthy, and Sally could therefore satisfy his every need. She moved into his home, claiming to have no children. All she had to do is make sure his child support got out. Every time Vinnie Victim and his ex started getting along, however, she would find a way to undermine it. Why allow another woman to interfere with a good thing? Besides, the ex might find out about Sally’s own children being raised by the U.S. taxpayer.
Vinnie Victim didn’t know it, but he was not only paying for his own children, rarely seen, but also Sally’s children. This is because the welfare law (Title IV-D) was designed to target absentee fathers in order to help pay for the entire program. Indeed, the U.S. Justice Department actually employed the phrase “Dead Beat Dad” in a February, 2012 news release to describe a child support arrest. Sally Skank learned of it at the shelter and laughed out loud, knowing of her exploits as a “Dead Beat Broad” off anyone’s radar in this socialist and sexist environment.
On April 20, 2012, a rally and lobby initiative is set to occur in Washington D.C. at Senate Park on the West Lawn of the Capitol. Designed to promote parenting rights and reform in our nation’s domestic relations courts, it was first announced in November, 2011. Related details can be found at www.leonkoziol.com. This week we sent final notices for participation to all the parenting groups and followers known to us. We intend to publish their involvement, if any, on a future date so that you might learn whether your group or contributions to any of them are producing results.
Now, in our final countdown, we feature short stories derived from callers and contributors as promised in a recent post. We call them the “Parenting Papers”. Satirical in scope, they are intended to stimulate attendance at our march, rally and lobby event next month. They are also based on real people and events brought to our attention. However, the names and content have been edited to protect the sources. Our first story, Day 29, is entitled: “Tony the Timid”.
Tony Timid was a private contractor on Long Island. Recently divorced, he retained a loving relationship with his ten year old boy and thirteen year old daughter. However, like 90% of all male parents in a separated family unit, Tony was classified as a “non-custodial parent” under the federal child support standards act. Despite $25,000 in fees wasted upon his lawyers, nothing could be done to alter his inferior status because, in plain terms, he was born incorrectly under “the law”.
Tony had read about the American Constitution, equal rights and all, but somehow, according to a Family Court judge, those rights did not apply to him. This allowed his government to reduce him to a mere visitor in his children’s lives while some other guy played the real father. Every time he filed a court petition, he was denied, frustrated and even made to feel like a criminal especially when his emotions logically got the better of him. Over and over again he was told that his only worth was money. This meant that his private life and finances would be forever scrutinized while lawyers reaped the benefits instead of his children.
Eventually Tony gave up, thinking this would produce an end to all the abuse. He met a wonderful woman and did his best to maintain a presence in his children’s lives. However, the ex was not happy with that woman for no logical reason, and she began to turn “her” children against both. As a superior “custodial parent” she was given special authority to file false accusations and drag Tony to court every chance she got for support increases. This caused the woman to leave him along with mounting bills in the paternal home. Meanwhile, his work suffered, and predictably, he could no longer keep up with court ordered support payments.
Tony had heard about parenting groups and father advocates, but every time there was a meeting or event, there was also a Basketball Tournament to watch or a bowling commitment with his buddies. As he put it “Hey I got no time for this protest stuff, ain’t some body else supposed to be doing it for us, ACLU or Legal Aid or sumptin?” Actually, as most people knew, those groups had no duty or interest in promoting Tony’s private causes. As a result, the local fathers rights chapter disbanded for lack of donors and participation.
Meanwhile, bar associations, feminists and socialist groups continued to lobby for higher support formulas and penalties. And one day it all hit Tony square in the face. He had fallen behind in support payments due to economic downturns. Worse yet, the state collection unit was charging interest rates on his arrears to pay for the judges and staff that were hitting him with these ridiculous orders. They could care less about his hard times, and simply performed a magic trick known as “imputed income” each time he complained. They would hold him to the largest earnings possible for a guy of his background.
In time, Tony landed himself in prison for back support. He called everywhere for help, demanding a protest in front of the courthouse or something. But there was no advocacy group, and certainly his lawyer was not going to protest such a lucrative system no matter how unjust or unconstitutional it was. Sadly, nobody was there for Tony because Tony was not there for anyone else. There was at least one silver lining though in his new found home. His team was still in the Tournament, and he did not have to pay for cable along with his newest buddies: convicted felons, rapists and child molesters in the cells next to him.
This Saturday is all about Queensland. It’s all about you, the people who work hard every day to raise their families, to support their communities, to run their businesses and and to grow our economy. This election is about your future, your families future and Queensland’s future. It’s about putting 20 wasted years of a tired Labor government behind us and moving on with real action. I am so very proud to say that we are ready. Now more than ever, the LNP is a strong and united team that has the policies, the commitment and the determination to get this State back on track. I say our best years, Queensland’s best years, are ahead of us. That’s why it’s time for a change. This Saturday I’m asking for you to support me and your local LNP candidate so that we can get Queensland back on track. Join us.
‘Natural Law‘ is a simple term describing the realities of the world we live in. ‘The Law of Gravity‘ being a classic case in point:If you jump off a very tall building, in 15 seconds you will reach a terminal velocity of 195 km per hour in a flat position. When you hit the ground at that speed, your life will be terminated. This is both a gravitational and biological reality.
It would seem that we have groups that are operating in our society, which are funded and supported with our tax dollars, and want to override natural law. In doing so they are bent on destroying the natural family and our children’s biological birthright to a mother and a father. Unfortunately when natural law is defied the results are not pretty. Our children suffer the consequences.
It takes a mother and a father to create a child. It takes a mother and a father to raise a child.
Dr Armand Nicholi, both a medical doctor and a professor from Harvard University, who has studied for over 40 years of research the question of parental absence and children’s wellbeing said this: “What has been shown over and over again to contribute most to the emotional development of the child is a close, warm, sustained and continuous relationship with both parents”.
We all know that tragedies do happen, whether through the death of a spouse or divorce, that children have often been deprived of their biological birthright. That is one thing, but when the government actually passes laws to take fathers off birth certificates, supports the creation of anti-father divorce laws and legislates for homosexual unions and/or homosexual marriage; this is a premeditated attack on the most vulnerable members of our society, our children. This is the Government, at its best, creating a fatherless society.
You may say that you understand the first two attacks, but not the last one. Warwick, you are obviously a homophobic bigot. Well why does such a bigot take a young fatherless homosexual man with AIDS into his home to live with his family? This is a question most news reporters have been unable to answer, nor are they willing to print the truth because it does not fit in with the prevailing orthodoxy of the feminist dominated news rooms. As Mark Twain said, “Never let the truth get in the way of a good story”.
We live in a world where feminist ideology trumps reality and anyone who dares disagree with feminist dogma is a homophobic bigot only fit to be burned at the stake. Salem witch trials move over.
Dr Laura Schlessinger, whose brilliant article The Evolution of Feminism Saddens Mesays: “The young women of today automatically think of themselves as feminists because they’ve been brainwashed by their mothers and much of society… They are convinced that men should be just like women in their thoughts and reactions and are frustrated when that mentality doesn’t work. Their men are either withdrawn or hostile. Feminist mothers brought up these young girls to have disdain for men and masculinity while seeing themselves as the ultimate power and someone whose every whim wins . . . or else.”
You may say, “Warwick you are just quoting those that agree with you, real feminists don’t believe this stuff.” Sorry to rain on your parade but this is what Andrea Dworkin a famous feminist had to say about men, “I want to see a man beaten to a bloody pulp with a high-heel shoved in his mouth, like an apple in the mouth of a pig“.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton was a bit more subtle, “We are, as a sex, infinitely superior to men“.
The feminist obsession with the supporting of same sex relationships is summed up well by Ti-Grace Atkinson, “Feminism is the theory, lesbianism is the practice“. Linda Gordon the Feminist Professor of New York University gets right to the point, “The nuclear family must be destroyed… Whatever its ultimate meaning, the break-up of families now is an objectively revolutionary process.”
Tempe Harvey, a brave woman who is fighting this feminist onslaught against our families said,“Same-sex marriage and same-sex surrogacy are feminist-inspired and supported. These new family structures are predicated on the supposed inter-changeability of male and female roles.They are also based on the false belief that children have no special need for their mother and result in the separation of children from their mothers, sometimes forever.
What of the rights of baby Zachary, who was obtained through surrogacy by pop star Elton John and his civil partner David Furnish? Or the rights of Queensland’s first surrogate baby, whose mother now bitterly regrets giving him to a homosexual male couple in 2010?
Men, whose natural instinct is normally to protect women against such laws, are, in many cases, brainwashed by politically-correct feminist thinking.”
I am one of those individuals that does not want to be brainwashed by such rubbish, are you?
Of great concern are the pictures of the fridge magnets produced by a government funded charity in Queensland called the Queensland Association for Healthy Communities. It should be renamed theQueensland Association for a Fatherless Society. The pictures show a half man / half woman naked dress up dolls. The implication being that natural law does not exist. This highlights the Bligh Government’s war on fatherhood and true masculinity.
My heroine, Tempe Harvey, had this to say about this organization, “Why are taxpayers funding the Queensland Association for Healthy Communities? Here is their latest offering from their website homepage. This group was given massive media coverage and worked behind the scenes to push the Civil Partnerships Act 2011 for opposite-gender and same-gender unions through Queensland parliament on 30 November 2011. The words on the website say,”Dress them up, or dress them down, you’ll have loads of fun with our queer and gender diverse fridge magnets”.
Tempe asks a very good question. Our governments and institutions are hell bent on the feminist theory that gender is a social construct. They intend to reshape natural law, turning men into women and women into men. What makes me mad is that they not only want to brainwash us, but also our children (who else is going to play with fridge magnets?) into believing the lie that you don’t need a mummy or a daddy and that gender is not important. Having experienced the pain of fatherlessness first hand,this is something I profoundly disagree with and I have paid dearly for my beliefs.
In 2008 I was appointed a Men’s Health Ambassador coinciding with the brilliant and long overdue move by the Labor Party to introduce a National Men’s Health Policy. We had only been waiting for 22 years. Then again men are invisible creatures aren’t they? My ego was deflated when I got the sack after only 48 hours on the job. I enjoyed the privilege of being the shortest ambassador in world history. I heard of my sacking on the radio. My only crime wassuggesting that children need a mother and a father and publishing a document to prove the importance of the natural family called 21 Reasons Why Gender Matters.
It is administrations, like the current Bligh government and others, that are intent on defying the natural law and sending our families and our children into a terminal velocity freefall that can only end in one way. The unthinkable has become the norm and Orwellian doublespeak the new ‘lingua franca’.
Tempe Harvey is right. We must stand up against such rubbish and expose it for what it is – feminist doublespeak set on destroying our children’s right to a mother and a father and destroying the natural family in the process.
About the Author
Warwick Marsh is the founder of the Dads4Kids Fatherhood Foundation with his wife Alison. They have five children and two grandchildren and have been married for 34 years. Warwick is on the board of a number of non profit organisations and has been working in the community on a voluntary basis for 19 years. Warwick’s background is as a musician and creative communicator/TV producer. He has produced over a dozen albums and over 20 TV shows. Warwick is also the editor in chief of Australia’s longest running weekly Dads4Kids email newsletter which started in 2002. The Dads4Kids Fatherhood Foundation has produced Fathers Day and Mothers Day TV community service announcements for national TV over the same period. In 2001 Warwick received a Centenary Medal from the Governor-General for service in musical leadership for young people and the Aboriginal community and his international missions and aid work.
Due to the undeniable role that they play in perpetuating the abuses of Family Courts (as well as the existence of Gloria Allred), precious few MRA’s would be willing to consider anybody bearing the title of “lawyer” as an ally to the cause. There is, however, one law professor from Harvard who, whether by accident or design, has contributed invaluable material to the Men’s Rights Movement. The name of that man is Alan Dershowitz.
Dershowitz is popular with most liberals, but very unpopular with feminists. For one thing, he destroyed Andrea Dworkin in a debate over pornography. For another, he has mastered the art of logic better than nearly any other man alive. As such, one of his books, I think, should be required reading for anybody willing to participate in the MRM in a capacity greater than that of an observer. I picked it up three years ago and it changed my life. The name of that book is The Abuse Excuse: And other Cop-Outs, Sob Stories, and Evasions of Responsibility.
In this gem of a legal treatise, Dershowitz treats us to an idea originally put forth by Dostoevsky in The Brothers Karamazov: that a defense of criminal irresponsibility for one’s actions is a double-edged sword. He applies this idea to a number of real-life legal cases, and shows how doing so harms the defense’s arguments. In doing so, he also explains the uses of and difference between necessary cause and sufficient cause better than anyone I’ve ever seen.
What Dershowitz does, first and foremost, is point out what was a glaring legal trend in the early Nineties: to invent new “Syndromes” for every court case under the sun. From “Battered Woman syndrome” to “Black Rage syndrome”, to “Holocaust Survivor syndrome”, Dershowitz shows how these defenses ultimately hurt the people they’re designed to protect.
In the case of Battered Woman syndrome, Dershowitz references the infamous “Burning Bed” incident which happened in my home state of Michigan. In this case, a woman was being abused by her drunkard of a husband (or so we’re told). Late one night, after he fell asleep, she took her children out to the car, doused her husband’s bed in gasoline, lit it on fire, and drove away. Her attorneys argued that she acted in self-defense; Dershowitz points out that she did not, since her husband was asleep at the time. He also points out that if she did indeed have a psychological disorder that prompted her to kill her husband, then she’s not exactly the sort of person you should trust around children. He makes the same argument in his installment on the Lorena Bobbitt case.
In the case of Black Rage syndrome, we are treated to the case of a black man who murdered a white man. The black man’s attorney argues that he was so persecuted by white society that he had no choice but to lash out. Dershowitz asks why a man who has a psychological disorder that could prompt him to lash out at any given moment and kill a white man should be admitted back into mainstream society.
In the case of Holocaust Survivor syndrome, Dershowitz tells us the story of a group of holocaust survivors who asked him to defend them in court pro bono (since he had a history of doing so) on charges of theft. They asked him to argue that they had Holocaust Survivor syndrome; in other words, struggling to stay alive in Hitler’s Germany had conditioned them to get by through stealing and lying. Dershowitz refused to take their case, saying that he knows plenty of holocaust survivors who have no trouble obeying the law.
If nothing else, Dershowitz’s book is worth reading for the absolute skewering he gives to Catherine MacKinnon’s and Andrea Dworkin’s arguments in favor of banning pornography. Dworkin claimed that pornography was responsible for such crimes as rape and child abuse. Dershowitz tied these in with similar anti-religious arguments and capped them all off with a logical gem, in which he said that blaming religion for the acts of violent fanatics, just like blaming pornography for rape and child abuse, is “like blaming oxygen for pyromania.”
Dershowitz seems to delight in debunking feminist arguments or just arguments in general that spring from the notion of female entitlement. He also mentions an incident in which a police officer pulled a woman over, suspecting that she was driving while intoxicated. The woman proceeded to assault the policeman, saying: “You can’t fucking do this to me! I’m a doctor, goddammit!” She was, of course, instantly arrested and subjected to a sobriety test, which she failed. Her attorney defended her against the assault charges, saying that she was suffering from PMS at the time of the incident. Dershowitz, clever man that he is, pointed out that the judge accepting the PMS defense would also be obligated to revoke the woman’s medical license, since it would be an absolute disaster if she started exhibiting symptoms of PMS during an operation.
In what looks like a foreshadowing, Dershowitz also argues against expanding the definition of rape to include intoxication. He points out that, unless the drink was drugged or force-fed to the woman, it wasn’t rape, because while she may not have been in her normal state of mind, she chose to drink the alcohol and is therefore responsible for whatever she did while under its influence. Sadly, it doesn’t seem that Dershowitz convinced too many lawmakers.
The Abuse Excuse is the one book that, more than any other, shaped my critical thinking skills and made them as sharp as they are today. I think it should be required reading for all MRAs. If you haven’t yet read it, go to your local library and pick up a copy. If you can’t find a copy, order one from Amazon—it’s dirt cheap. It’s a bit outdated in terms of the cases it discusses (around a fifth of the chapters are devoted to the OJ Simpson case), but all of Dershowitz’ ideas are every bit as applicable today as they were when he wrote them. I don’t know if we can peg him fully as another Red Pill-taker, but he’s definitely not part of the Blue Pill crowd.
Our post today comes from our good friend Don Meehan, who has asked us to share both this video and his message with our followers:
LETS MAKE IT JUSTICE FOR ALL -NOT JUST “MOST” ALL
I wrote my book, “Best Interests of the Children” after fighting the Long Island system 77 times in court in one of the most corrupt situations ever and the worst neglect and custody cases ever in Long Island. (‘70s) We survived the nightmare and I save my kids after being almost totally bankrupted. Things apparently haven’t changed after 35 years. I will be doing a documentary that will include that and other judicial mafia acts and want you to also see the trailer on it AND JUSTICE FOR ALL(MOST????) at: http://youtu.be/VKuUS3IZ6pI
Feel free to send this to any and all.
The deep cancer within the judicial and prosecutorial mafia has grown so deep that it will take a miracle or some kind of superhuman leadership to form an army, and a multi-million dollar press campaign to conquer and overhaul the big mess that has spread so wide. The corruption goes from the smallest rural communities to the largest cities, and continues to grow, totally hidden from view by the masses.
We need a Commanding General to step forward and take charge in forming an army to fight for JUSTICE FOR ALL.
Special talents are needed to band an army together with strong and competent leadership and generals, who can lead the fight and attack on all fronts. Celebrities have the limelight, and if on board, can play a huge part in joining the fight. However, getting them interested is another story. For once again, nobody cares about the suffering going on among those who have gone up against the strong and powerful system and have lost.
There is no doubt that the death penalty has snuffed out some innocent souls, too weak or too poor to fight such a corrupt system. And many, like me, were trampled on with judges getting paid and with political favors handed out, judicial and prosecutorial misconduct allowed, to where one runs out of the energy and resources to continue the fight. Once you lose in the lower courts it is a fight that you have nowhere to go but to higher courts, where judges are content with protecting their own, and know well, how to keep you spending thousands to gain nothing. Thank God there are still a few good ones out there.
Ignorance is bliss!
The obstacles that are preventing healing, I believe, lies with the ignorance and bliss of the general public. And the media is also apparently blind to the reality of it all, and take their sides or only report what sells. And the cancer remains hidden. Any one of us fighting alone can easily be brought down and nobody cares. Their weapons are strong and fierce and many. Even attorneys are targets if they dare to cross the line. Attorneys filing any kind of complaints against judges are committing suicide with their careers. And if the layman doesn’t know the law, s/he loses in any righteous battle, but they know now to bankrupt you and completely destroy you.
As some of you know, since you probably have seen my trailer on the Internet about the corruption at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKuUS3IZ6pI I have strong aspirations to make the documentary and expose it all, and certainly have the talents and experience in that area. It will be a huge undertaking and will require a lot of time, money and expertise. Right now, this is on hold while I attempt a promotion campaign to gain more of a following. In fact, I am working on a plan to even increase my capabilities regarding show business and production, that will play a vital role in our publicity. I’ll send you a link within a week or two.
I propose now that all of us who are involved with getting the word out there at the present time, whether and individual or a group, or an established organization, put our heads together and start building the army and seek the right solutions that will inform the American public about the things that need to be done to cure this cancer. We need a leader with the necessary talents to proceed in that direction.
Will someone please step forward and assume this position? For some, with talents in other directions, the task would be impossible. But word is also desperately needed from those with talents who can organize and plan and do public relations.
All the major work and sacrifice have already been made, everything is legal, no arrests are needed. There is a site permit, an open mike for public statements (west lawn, Senate Park at 2pm) and lobbying efforts throughout the weekend. How much more carnage and Thomas Ball incidents will it take before victimized fathers, concerned mothers and their families become finally recognized as American citizens entitled to justice, due process and equal protection under the law?
Get viral, make your own commitment today, visit us at Parenting Rights Institute and Leon Koziol.com (Dr. Leon Koziol, founder of the march). Momentum is building. Help us contact actors like Alec Baldwin and our representatives in Congress to join us next month for a long overdue statement of reform!
In what can only be described as a remarkable Supreme Court judgment, a Judge has found that a family law lawyer, a Mr Andrew Goddard from Goddard Elliott lawyers , who negligently advised his mentally incapacitated client resulting in a breathtakingly unjust property settlement, cannot be sued due to Australia’s archaic advocates’ immunity laws.
This decision was made despite finding that Mr Andrew Goddard was extremely negligent in his representation of his client, resulting in a $900,000 shortfall. In a remarkable twist that defies logic, the client was ordered to pay a further $68,000 in legal costs to Goddard Elliott lawyers.
–A JUDGE said today he found it “deeply troubling” that a law firm can avoid paying $675,000 to a mentally incapacitated client that it negligently advised because of an ancient law that protects lawyers from being sued.
Justice Kevin Bell found that Goddard Elliott lawyerswere negligent in preparing the case of client Paul Fritsch and as a result he only received less than a third of his share of a marital pool of $4.3 million.
In his Supreme Court judgment, Justice Bell said Mr Fritsch was entitled to substantial compensation from the Glen Waverley law firm but the Common Law “advocates’ immunity” shielded the firm for paying for their negligent handling of his case.
“Goddard Elliott is not liable to pay damages for the loss its negligence caused to Mr Fritsch, a conclusion to which I am driven and find deeply troubling,” Justice Bell said.
The judge said previous High Court decisions were a binding authority and meant advocates’ immunity was a complete defence to Mr Fritsch’s lawsuit.
And to rub salt into Mr Fritsch’s wounds Justice Bell ordered the former Vietnam veteran to pay $68,000 in legal costs to Goddard Elliott plus interest.
Australia is the last country in the world to retain advocates’ immunity, a doctrine that shields barristers and solicitors from being sued if their negligence is “intimately connected to litigation”.
Canada abolished advocates’ immunity in 1861 and England in 2000.
Justice Bell said Mr Fritsch is a 64-year-old invalid pensioner with a mental illness.
Mr Fritsch’s solicitor was Andrew Goddard of Goddard Elliott lawyers and the judge said that because of his failures a property settlement was reached which was “very generous in favour of the wife”.
Justice Bell found that Goddard Elliott lawyers failed to prepare the case properly in three important respects and took instructions from Mr Fritsch to settle the case “when he did not have the mental capacity to give those instructions”.
“The circumstances of the preparation negligence were that the business valuation, taxation, costs and post-separation expenditure by the husband were important issues,” the judge said.
“Mr Fritsch was a Vietnam veteran who was known to be suffering from major depression and post traumatic stress disorder.
“He was not in a fit mental state to be giving instructions, which his lawyers should have known.”
Justice Bell said Mr Fritsch received $1.3 million when he should have received $2.3 million and with “appropriate subtractions” his lost opportunity was $900,000.
The judge said Mr Fritsch also sued two barristers and an accountant and settled his claims against all three.
A divorce lawyer has been caught on surveillance video kicking down the door at the home of his client’s estranged husband and ransacking the place.
Raymond Van Arnam, 60, was filmed breaking into the house in Alamogordo, in the US state of New Mexico, before he and his client Melissa Stonecipher go about collecting her belongings.
They are joined by several of Van Arnam’s law office employees.
They carry out furniture, legal papers, a truck full of furniture and the family dog.
Van Arnam is even seen ripping down ‘no trespass’ signs.
This week a judge sentenced the lawyer to 30 days in jail and issued him a $7500 fine, according to a local news station.
Mr Stonecipher said he set up cameras to protect his property from his wife, who had moved out of their house into an apartment.
The surveillance cameras show Van Arnam during the break-in last October pounding on the front door with his fist and kicking it when Mr Stonecipher doesn’t immediately answer.
There is a brief confrontation when the husband gets in his car to leave before Van Arnam goes to the back of the house and breaks in.
He pleaded guilty in Alamogordo Magistrate Court on Tuesday to criminal damage to property, criminal trespassing and larceny.
Van Arnam, a former president of the local bar association, told media afterwards that he only took such drastic measures because Mr Stonecipher was bullying his client and was not allowing her to pick up her property.
A court is still waiting to rule on whether Van Arnam can keep his licence to practice law.
