The cuffs are off for High Court showdown (1 Viewer)

[Frigid]

moral of this story: with all due respect, don't buy High Court cufflinks.

The cuffs are off for High Court showdown

At $50, Clayton Robert Croker thought his commemorative High Court of Australia cufflinks were a "bargain".

After taking the Commonwealth of Australia to court because the cufflinks tarnished and chipped, though, he is out of pocket by about $3000 in legal fees. But he is not giving up: he will appeal, and if he has to, take the High Court to the High Court.

Mr Croker said the High Court, while not a shop, should be treated the same as any other trader that had "ripped off" a consumer.

The 43-year-old, who is representing himself, said he bought the gold-plated cufflinks from the High Court's Canberra registry in November 2003.

"After 100 years of judicial leadership of the High Court, I thought it might be a good idea to have them as sentimental value," he said outside court yesterday
By last August, though, the cufflinks were looking shabby.

Mr Croker complained and was given a replacement pair, but they also tarnished.

So Mr Croker took the Commonwealth to the Consumer Trader and Tenancy Tribunal of NSW, claiming $1032 in damages. The tribunal dismissed his claim in July, saying the matter fell outside its jurisdiction.

He then took his case to the NSW Supreme Court, but yesterday the court dismissed his appeal. "Well, it's turning out to be a very expensive pair of cufflinks," he said.

However, there were more important issues at stake.

"I see there's a legal issue here - when you get involved in contracts with the Commonwealth, a lot of the time the Commonwealth claims immunity," he said.

"I think it's a public interest matter. I think it should be pursued through the courts."

Mr Croker, who says he is studying law, does acknowledge that taking the High Court to the High Court is a ridiculous proposition. He is no stranger to the courts - he has unsuccessfully sued all sorts of people, from a dentist to the Commissioner of Taxation. However, the NSW Court of Appeal has previously expressed surprise at Mr Croker's claims to be a law student, saying his litany of claims demonstrates that he "has little, if any, acquaintance with, or understanding of, proper litigious practice and procedure"...

 

[santaslayer]

LoLz...funni.

this guy must have a lot of time...and money...tell him to park his arse and hit the books instead...

exams are just around the corner.

 

[Meldrum]

I love this guy, he should write a book and call it the 'Croker Diaries'...then, and only then, WILL ANYONE CARE.

 

[ManlyChief]

I read this in the Oz today - some people should be shot before they clog up our justice system with such stupid claims.

Anyhoo - on a related point, can someone help me with a puzzling thing that happened this morning ...

+

?

This morning at 8.15am I saw Murray Gleeson in the Doghnut King at the Wentworth Building at USyd drinking a coffee and eating a cinnamon doughnut. I know it was him since he had that "I just sucked a lemon" look on his face - you know the one I'm talking about - and he was wearing a suit with the Order of Australia pin in the lapel of the jacket. I know there was a full court sitting in Canberra today but was Gleeson there? Or did I really see Gleeson sipping second rate coffee in a dodgey USyd doughnut shop? Because if so that really beats having Kirby J address us in First Year Legal I ...

I am so excited.

 

[Ziff]

Isn't the "Full Court" when 3 or more justices are sitting?

You might be confusing the term with "Full bench" which means they're all there at the same time.

 

[ManlyChief]

Isn't the "Full Court" when 3 or more justices are sitting?

You might be confusing the term with "Full bench" which means they're all there at the same time.

Yes but - I was so excited that I didn't phrase myself properly - how do I know Gleeson was not in Canberra? Was anyone there? Oh, I so hope it was him - I shall be ever so excited if that is the case ...

 

[011]

Celebrities eat at donut king!

 

[Frigid]

This morning at 8.15am I saw Murray Gleeson in the Doghnut King at the Wentworth Building at USyd drinking a coffee and eating a cinnamon doughnut. I know it was him since he had that "I just sucked a lemon" look on his face - you know the one I'm talking about - and he was wearing a suit with the Order of Australia pin in the lapel of the jacket. I know there was a full court sitting in Canberra today but was Gleeson there? Or did I really see Gleeson sipping second rate coffee in a dodgey USyd doughnut shop? Because if so that really beats having Kirby J address us in First Year Legal I ...

how come all the 'gods' go to YOUR uni?

maybe gleeson has an appetite for doughnuts. did you get a photo and autograph?

 

[ManlyChief]

how come all the 'gods' go to YOUR uni?

I dunno, my preferred explanation is that, in order to show his support for compulsory student unionism, Gleeson used his lifetime USyd Union membership to purchase cut price sludge masquerading as coffee and discount biro.

maybe gleeson has an appetite for doughnuts. did you get a photo and autograph?

No, but I have resolved to sit in that chair and order a coffee and doughnut before my legal ethics exam at the end of semester in the vian hope that some of his divinity will still be present in the plastic seat and shall, by process of diffusion, transfer to me and so ameliorate the effects of failing to do a whole semester's worth of reading

 

[MoonlightSonata]

I read this in the Oz today - some people should be shot before they clog up our justice system with such stupid claims.

Anyhoo - on a related point, can someone help me with a puzzling thing that happened this morning ...

+

?

This morning at 8.15am I saw Murray Gleeson in the Doghnut King at the Wentworth Building at USyd drinking a coffee and eating a cinnamon doughnut. I know it was him since he had that "I just sucked a lemon" look on his face - you know the one I'm talking about - and he was wearing a suit with the Order of Australia pin in the lapel of the jacket. I know there was a full court sitting in Canberra today but was Gleeson there? Or did I really see Gleeson sipping second rate coffee in a dodgey USyd doughnut shop? Because if so that really beats having Kirby J address us in First Year Legal I ...

I am so excited.

lol I love the illustration. That is very interesting... but I don't think it could have been him because he was in Canberra today

(HC transcript - 6 October)

I actually came close to bumping into Gleeson one time - scariest moment of my law student life. He was to give a talk in the Scientia at UNSW at 6pm. It was long before 6, around 5:25 or something in fact, and I was loitering around some corridors of the building checking out all these strange rooms I'd never been in before. So of course I did not expect that, when walking back down a corridor to the main lobby, and I was almost there - who should come round the corner but... Gleeson! For about 3 seconds he stood there eye to eye with my flabbergasted self - death stare going and all... before I jumped out of his way. That was pretty alarming. But I have to say, one thing I did note is that he is quite a short fellow!

Later on during his talk I asked him a question about tips for future advocates. He was very obliging and after a few habitual death stares I realised that he just has an unfortunate way of letting his face rest in a frowning state.

 

[gordo]

case reminds me of that someone v manly ferry false imprisonment one

a lawyer took a case over 1 penny all the way to the high court just to prove a point (and lost)

 

[xeuyrawp]

"has little, if any, acquaintance with, or understanding of, proper litigious practice and procedure"

Ouch .

 

[MoonlightSonata]

case reminds me of that someone v manly ferry false imprisonment one

a lawyer took a case over 1 penny all the way to the high court just to prove a point (and lost)

That would be Balmain Ferry v Robertson

(involving incorporation of terms into a contract by previous dealings)

 

[gordo]

haha balmain ferry, close enuf

 

[ManlyChief]

lol I love the illustration. That is very interesting... but I don't think it could have been him because he was in Canberra today

(HC transcript - 6 October)

I actually came close to bumping into Gleeson one time - scariest moment of my law student life. He was to give a talk in the Scientia at UNSW at 6pm. It was long before 6, around 5:25 or something in fact, and I was loitering around some corridors of the building checking out all these strange rooms I'd never been in before. So of course I did not expect that, when walking back down a corridor to the main lobby, and I was almost there - who should come round the corner but... Gleeson! For about 3 seconds he stood there eye to eye with my flabbergasted self - death stare going and all... before I jumped out of his way. That was pretty alarming. But I have to say, one thing I did note is that he is quite a short fellow!

Later on during his talk I asked him a question about tips for future advocates. He was very obliging and after a few habitual death stares I realised that he just has an unfortunate way of letting his face rest in a frowning state.

DAMN! My dream shattered! The great love affiar I had with Doughnut King hath now ended! Naver again shall the name of that establishment D----nut K--g be uttered in my presence for it is nought but a harbourer of imposters, pretenders to the seat of Chief Justice of Australia!

Thank you MoonlightSonata, thank you for showing me the light.

That said, it was good to see the old CJ in fine form today.

... But if Gleeson did not leave some measley scintilla of his legal knowledge, in spirit at least, in the said coffee house - nay, caffine house of charlatans - then how on earth am I ever going to pass ethics?????

Hugs to you all from Manly. Sleep well. xoxo

 

[MoonlightSonata]

lol we are all High Court groupies

I'm near Manly... well a few suburbs north

 

[011]

If that wasn't Gleeson, then who was it?

 

[ManlyChief]

If that wasn't Gleeson, then who was it?

I don't know, but I bet the CIA has something to do with it.

lol we are all High Court groupies

I'm near Manly... well a few suburbs north

I think I am now a MoonlightSonata groupie. hug.

 

[Frigid]

actually, is it too far-fetched and fanciful if CJ came to get doughnuts and coffee and got one of those "HC"-numberplated limos and drove back to the ivory tower in Canberra just in time for a 10 o'clock hearing?

 

[prosaic]

Perhaps he was an ethics student who resolved to dress himself up as Gleeson, sour-lemon-expression included, in the vain hope that some of the CJ's divinity will be transferred to him by doing so, and thus make up for a semester's worth of untouched readings.