Section 131 of the Evidence Act 2008 (Vic) does not protect finalised settlement agreements from being tendered in evidence, including in criminal proceedings. The statutory privilege, like the common law 'without prejudice' privilege, is confined to communications made during the period the parties remain in dispute and are attempting to negotiate a settlement. A settlement deed containing admissions is admissible. For sentencing, a fraud of approximately $17.4 million committed by a solicitor in breach of trust, with no remorse and relevant prior offending, attracted a total effective sentence of 9 years 6 months' imprisonment, which was held to be within range.
The full text is available to signed-in members, including the 4 later cases that cite this judgment.