Supreme Court of Australia
Lawrence v Melbourne Football Club Ltd (2022)VSC 658.
The Board was resistant to providing emails for members regarding the proposed Constitutional changes.
As the judge noted when addressing MFC Counsel in relation to the recent Court Case regarding access to the Register of Members:
1. “The authorities have made it plain that they think that email addresses are not something so private it shouldn’t be available for inspection….”
2. “I’m just saying that the line of least resistance might be that your client decides to allow the members to receive the balance of this information through emails, but then again they may want to be the test case.”
3. “Well, there was a compromise proposed earlier by Mr Lawrence whereby the material was sent out by the club. You would’ve thought that might be a solution to this problem…..it means they don’t get the email addresses”
4. “But of course your client’s entitled to be part of the test case if that’s what it desires.”
And so the case went on, costing the Club significant funds….
MFC ANNUAL FINANCIAL REPORT
Director Election, Constitution & Legal proceedings costs:
2022 | $566,821
2021 | $233,005
All the publicly available materials, starting with the judgment, are here: