Bell litigation

For some 30 years the firm acted for Tony Woodings, the liquidator of the Bell Group companies, in litigation concerning the rights of creditors arising out of the collapse of the Bell Group in 1991. The Bell Group had been bought by Alan Bond from another Australian business man Robert Homes à Court, Australia's first billionaire.

In 2013, 26 years after the Bell Group's collapse, the liquidators finally secured a $1.75 billion settlement. However, the matter was not resolved as the creditors then set to fighting amongst themselves over the division of the settlement sum. It wasn't until December 2019 that the terms of the distribution were finally agreed.

Many of our lawyers, staff and alumni have been involved in this case which started back in 2000, and with the first instance trial being heard over a record of 404 court sitting days from 2003 to 2006. The hearing of the appeal ran for 40 days from April to June 2011.

According to alumnus Ashley Wharton, the head partner on the case, in order to run the case properly, the firm assembled a team drawn from its national offices and a number of partners relocated to Perth for many years to see the matter through. Ashley said, "At one stage the team occupied a floor and a half in the Perth office. We are proud of the fact that several of our Bell alumni have gone on to become partners or senior lawyers in the firm and many others have pursued successful careers in other areas of the law. Two of our Bell counsel team have since taken Supreme Court appointments and others have been appointed senior counsel. To work over an extended period with such a dedicated team of professionals has been an enriching, educational and at times inspiring experience".

Alumnus, Ian Adrian, one of the many partners who worked on the case said, "The Bell case always had an indifferent reputation because everyone thought it was too much like a modern day Jarndyce vs Jarndyce. But the fantastic WA Court of Appeal decision shows what a great team effort can achieve in difficult circumstances."

Then partner alumna  Fiona Hudgson remembers the dry and occasionally black humour of the trial judge, usually reflecting his Honour's fondness for both sport and music, "The judicial lectern was occasionally draped with the football scarves of the Welsh rugby team or Fremantle football club (when they won). The day in court would often start with musings like: I thought I would just let you know that this morning as I was walking into work in very high spirits, marvelling at how beautiful Kings Park is and the wonders of the dawn, a piece of music came on which brought me back to earth. It's that rock classic, 'We've gotta get out of this place', and, as you probably know, the next line is even more depressing. It says, 'If it's the last thing we ever do'."

Partner, Wen-Ts'ai Lim, also recalls some of the quick wit of the barristers at the trial. Early in the trial Professor Warren Hogan, a former director of Westpac, was being cross-examined by Terry Tobin QC, a noted cross-examiner. Tobin secured from the Hogan a concession that in his role as a member of the bank's board credit committee he thought the Bell Group was "a dead duck". Hogan then explained that nevertheless, he did not make the decision to take security because authority to do so sat at a lower level, which led Tobin to ask Hogan whether he washed his hands of Bell at that stage. That moved Dermott Ryan SC for the banks to object to the question because it had "New Testament undertones". Tobin's response was to ask the witness: "To revert to the Anglo Saxon, did you give up on this dead duck?" Ryan objected to the laughter that then ensued on the ground that it intimated there was "an interlude of bonhomie" when "the exact opposite was the case".

Wen-Tsai also noted the complexity of the case: "Some years later, Justice Neville Owen, the trial judge, said at a seminar at the University of Sydney, ‘Some cases are just complex.’ That was an understatement. As his Honour records in his judgment, the court book comprised some 134,680 documents, of which 86,340 (318,819 pages) were tendered. Some 166 individuals (154 lay witnesses and twelve experts) were called to give evidence—over 250 witness statements were served but many witnesses were withdrawn, sometimes shortly before they were scheduled to give evidence. The court sat for 404 hearing days, generating some 37,105 pages of transcript. The parties lodged 36,933 pages of written submissions and Justice Owen’s reasons for judgment exceeded 2700 pages."