About the episode
This week the panel look at a truly unusual and interesting decision from Justice Wigney of the Federal Court which involved a serving federal judge being ordered to pay damages for wrongfully imprisoning a man he jailed for contempt of court. Stradford (a pseudonym) v Judge Vasta 2023 FCA 1020 has already had massive ramifications. Some judges have reportedly refused to sit since it was handed down, calls for a standing federal judicial commission to investigate judicial misconduct have been renewed and the decision has been appealed by multiple parties setting the stage for a final determination of the limits of judicial immunity at common law. The judgment of Justice Wigney delved into the fascinating question of when a judge can be sued for conduct on the bench and involved the surveying of hundreds of years of case law on point. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
