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‘We’re going to roast you, we’re lawyers’: NSW lawyer ordered to pay $300k
An NSW Supreme Court justice has delivered a scalding judgement against a Balmain lawyer accused of bullying her neighbour in a long-running dispute.
Naomi Neilson
Mid-argument, Balmain lawyer Vanessa Hutley told a neighbour she would “roast him, we’re lawyers” over a long-running dispute that would eventually see them both before the Supreme Court. Justice Stephen Rothman ordered Ms Hutley to pay her neighbour $300,000 and another $60,000 in interest for bullying and defamation.
“This is a petty, neighbourhood squabble essentially caused by the arrogance and the feeling of superiority of the defendant which does not amount to any matter relating to public interest,” Justice Rothman said. “Not every crime is a matter of public interest.”
The drawn-out dispute involved court cases and mutual applications for Apprehended Violence Orders (AVOs). When the broadcast aired – by a program labelled “sensationalist” – the neighbour had pleaded to malicious damage for spraying expanding foam into her vent on the property. He was also found to have lied to police about the foam.
However, while Justice Rothman noted the neighbour had pleaded guilty, he found the chief antagonist in the dispute was actually Ms Hutley. Justice Rothman said that any retaliation from the neighbour would have been “reactionary” and “did not insult her”.
“After the publication and broadcast the reputation of the plaintiff suffered dramatically. He was shunned. It hurt his feelings and it caused him embarrassment and avoidance of more public events. His level of hurt and upset is a subject of evidence beyond that to which [the neighbour] himself attests,” Justice Rothman said in his judgement.
Justice Rothman also noted that Ms Hutley approached the program and “agitated for the broadcast” to the point where she threatened to go to another station if the program was not interested, which “discloses malice and shows the motive of the defendant”.
In another incident, the neighbour’s labourer Maurice Cornielje gave evidence that he was verbally abused by Ms Hutley from “day one”, including suggestions that he “didn’t belong [there]” because he and his team were “foreigners”. At some point, Mr Cornielje accused her of being a “bigot” to which she replied, “you can’t even spell the word”.
Ms Hutley’s son, spurred on by her actions, also “[threw] in his own comments” which Mr Cornielje alleged was “telling us to leave and get out of – you know, get out of the country, which was, I just thought absurd”. Her son would comment most days.
Justice Rothman said Mr Cornielje’s evidence was “utterly believable”, adding that he gave evidence of continuing abuse on a constant basis “every other day”. The Justice said he found Mr Cornielje to be an “honest, reliable witness”.
Ms Hutley is to pay the neighbour $300,000 plus interest in the order of $60,000. She was also ordered to pay costs. The neighbour did not sue A Current Affair.
This judgement can be read on Austlii: Cosco v Hutley (No 2) NSW 893 (13 July 2020)
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Naomi Neilson
Naomi Neilson is a senior journalist with a focus on court reporting for Lawyers Weekly.
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