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‘Staggering, inexplicable’ conduct by law firm stuns judge
A regional Victorian law firm relied on documents that were “no more than a jumble of legal gibberish” and was criticised for the inexplicable decision to share “obviously privileged communication”.
Naomi Neilson
Einsiedels, a law firm based in Narre Warren and Pakenham, was criticised by Associate Justice Catherine Gobbo for the letter and documents it filed in the Victorian Supreme Court on behalf of its client, Paul Spencer Greenman, in a caveat dispute.
The law firm said that given Greenman has held “Sunday services and prayer meetings” on the property since he moved in, the registered proprietor of the land – who took over from the bankrupt owner – could not “touch any assets of a religious ministry or church”.
“Even the most cursory review of the documents enclosed with Einsiedels’ letter leaves no doubt that the documents are no more than a jumble of legal gibberish,” Associate Justice Gobbo said.
“That those documents were conveyed by a solicitor on the basis that they recorded either proper and competent instructions or a trust said to support a caveatable interest in the land, which caveat the solicitor then lodged, is nothing short of staggering.”
When lawyers for the proprietor made requests for the caveat to be removed, Einsiedels made the “inexplicable” decision to blind-copy them onto an “obviously privileged communication” between the firm and Greenman, in which instructions on the removal were sought.
Associate Justice Gobbo said what was “even more concerning” was Einsiedels’ forwarding of an email it had received from the client, which contained his instructions, to the proprietor’s lawyers.
Einsiedels was not present at the hearing of the application “to provide an explanation” of this conduct, Associate Justice Gobbo said.
Greenman’s affidavit was also found to be 34 pages “of nonsensical quasi-legal concepts and phrases, Bible quotes and references to organisations and entities with unconventional titles or descriptions”.
He also included concepts that “have been comprehensively dismissed by other courts or which are so absurd as to have no relevance to the first defendant’s prima facie case”.
To support any future court that must “consider such absurdity in the future”, Associate Justice Gobbo said something further about each of the submissions, which she described as being “arrant nonsense”.
In one, Greenman sought to class himself as a “Living Man” in order to create a “different identity” from the one named as defendant.
This was not without some degree of irony because Greenman sought to rely on legal protections afforded by the lodging of the caveat in his own name “but simultaneously sought to divorce himself from that persona when his conduct … was subject to challenge”.
Greenman also refused to give his appearance and instead opted to repeat that he was “acting in the capacity of the officer of executor for the so-called defendant”, and loudly repeated, “permission to come aboard”, as if that had some unique legal meaning, Associate Justice Gobbo said.
During his submissions, Greenman made reference to the “People’s Court of Terra Australis’” – which can be credited for the Living Man claim – that Associate Justice Gobbo found to be “a recent intervention which seeks to give itself legitimacy on its website” and offers “random statements copied from other sources and cobbled together”.
“Any suggestion that ‘the People’s Court of Terra Australis’ has any legal status, authority or standing in Victoria or indeed Australia ought to be denounced in the strongest possible terms as should the content on its website,” Associate Justice Gobbo said.
“I reject that it has any validity, application or relevance to the proceeding before me.”
Greenman failed to discharge his onus to establish he had a prima facie case, and the caveat was dismissed.
The case is Nelson v Greenman & Anor [2024] VSC 704 (15 November 2024).
Naomi Neilson
Naomi Neilson is a senior journalist with a focus on court reporting for Lawyers Weekly.
You can email Naomi at:
