a day ago
Lawyer X Nicola Gobbo loses compensation claim for damages suffered after informing on her clients
Disgraced former barrister Nicola Gobbo's compensation claim for physical and mental damage caused by her time as a police informer has been thrown out.
Victorian Supreme Court judge Melinda Richards dismissed Ms Gobbo's lawsuit against the State of Victoria on Friday morning, finding that she was barred from bringing it due to an earlier settlement with police in 2010.
Ms Gobbo sued the state, which is responsible for the actions of police, in 2021 but the court suppressed details of her claim until July 2023.
In court papers, she accused Victoria Police of negligence and "high-handed, insulting or reprehensible conduct" in inducing her to become a police informer, resulting in damage to her physical and mental health.
She said that when Victoria Police approached her to become an informant, she "expressed grave concerns for her safety" due to her connections with the underworld, "including risk of death" if confidential information was released.
Ms Gobbo claimed that she only agreed to become an informer after police officers including former commissioner Simon Overland assured her that her identity would remain confidential.
However, she alleged that the officers "knew or ought to have known that they could not protect" her from being exposed.
Ms Gobbo's career as a police informer against the interests of her clients resulted in a royal commission and the release of two of them from prison after their convictions were set aside.
Her identity was publicly exposed in 2018 and since then she and her two children have lived in various places overseas.
In its defence, the state said Ms Gobbo knew the risks when she became an informer and denied the officers owed her a duty to take reasonable care to avoid her suffering foreseeable injury.
On Friday morning, Justice Richards said that only four of the officers — including Mr Overland — owed Ms Gobbo a duty of care.
But Justice Richards said the officers did not breach their duty of care to Ms Gobbo.
She said she would have found against Ms Gobbo even if the lawsuit was not barred due to the settlement deal struck in 2010.
This was because Ms Gobbo voluntarily assumed the risk of becoming a police informer.
This meant the state "could not have been held liable ... due to the materialisation of that risk".
"The proceeding must be dismissed."
Justice Richards delayed publication of her full 200-page judgment until this afternoon to give the parties time to check whether any part of it should be suppressed.
