Judge Lifts Legal Professional Privilege in Epic Legal Battle

South Australian Supreme Court Chief Justice, Chris Kourakis, has pierced the veil of legal professional privilege. The secrecy between a lawyer and a client has been ordered to be removed in an epic legal battle that has stretched for twelve long years.

The legal battle involved a feud between PPB’s Peter Macks and a small businessman, John Viscariello, who was a retailer for sheets. His companies went under in 2001 and after a series of claims and counterclaims, Viscariello pursued the liquidator for abuse of process. The recoveries from Viscariello's companies were exhausted years ago but the lawsuits dragged on tortuously. It became a one-man fight against the system. He also petitioned the Legal Practitioners Conduct Board to investigate Minter Ellison, the law firm acting for Mack. The board instead laid a series of onerous demands on Viscariello and in the end took his livelihood and his legal practicing licence. 

But in August 2012, Chief Justice Kourakis dealt the liquidator and his solicitors a savage blow.

He also questioned how Macks could have have burdened Viscariello’s company with legal costs approaching half a million dollars to recover the sum of $28,000. The court also found that another case against Viscariello’s girlfriend, Tanya Hamilton-Smith, was being funded by Macks. "Mr Macks' purpose in funding the arrangement was to secure the bankruptcy of Ms Hamilton-Smith," the judge wrote in his interlocutory judgment. Moreover, they tried to cover it up. "A strategy appears to have been adopted to refrain from disclosing the existence of the funding arrangement."

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SA judge lifts veil on legal professional privilege