National Australia Bank Limited v Juric

[2001] VSC 375

Supreme Court of Victoria

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Interrogate

Catchwords

1. Contempt of Court
2. › Civil contempt
3. › Breach of injunction
4. › Injunction restraining defamatory publications
5. › Whether communications likely to lower reputation and standing
6. › Whether defendant identified the plaintiff in communications
7. › Standard of proof beyond reasonable doubt
1. Contempt of Court
2. › Civil contempt
3. › Duplicity
4. › Whether charges bad for duplicity where multiple acts on single day charged as one contempt
5. › Whether rules against duplicity in criminal law apply to civil contempt proceedings
6. › Rule 75.06(4) Supreme Court Rules
1. Contempt of Court
2. › Civil contempt becoming criminal contempt
3. › Contumacious disregard of court order
4. › Whether deliberately defiant and intentional disobedience converts civil contempt to criminal contempt
1. Contempt of Court
2. › Conviction
3. › Discretion to decline to record conviction
4. › Whether circumstances warranted recording of conviction notwithstanding discretion to decline

Quick Take

The rules of criminal law relating to duplicity do not apply to civil contempt proceedings; it is sufficient that the summons specifies the contempt clearly and provides sufficient particulars. A continuing course of defiant and contumacious disobedience of an injunction, persisting after warning, may convert civil contempt into criminal contempt. The court retains a discretion to decline to record a conviction for contempt even where the contempt is established, but serious and deliberate breaches will ordinarily warrant conviction.