By Brendan Rees
A developer at the centre of an IBAC investigation has abandoned his defamation case against City of Casey over “bullying“ allegations – much to the relief of council.
Mr Woodman launched defamation proceedings in the Supreme Court following a meeting in August 2018 with four City of Casey staff including an acting chief executive to discuss his pending application for a permit regarding Brompton Lodge development in Cranbourne South.
According to court documents, Mr Woodman’s lawyer, from Corrs Chambers Westgarth, claimed he was defamed in internal communications among staff.
However, on 1 June Mr Woodman elected to file a notice of discontinuance and thereby discontinue his claim against council and the officers allegedly involved.
Before dropping the case, Mr Woodman’s lawyers claimed the publications “carried the imputation” that Mr Woodman “was so disrespectful, belittling, aggressive, intimidatory and bullying of City of Casey staff at the meeting that his conduct warranted severe censure”.
Following the first publications, Mr Woodman’s lawyers claimed council staff refused to meet with Mr Woodman following repeated requests – with one staff member allegedly publishing second publications, Mr Woodman’s lawyers stated.
The court documents stated the publications were leaked to The Age newspaper in 2018 and used in a series of articles.
“The republications of the substance of the publications in the print and online editions of The Age severely aggravated the harm suffered by the plaintiff,” Mr Woodman’s lawyers argued in the documents.
“It is to be inferred that councillors or employees of the City of Casey were responsible for the leak,” it said.
According to City of Casey’s defence documents, which was prepared by its lawyers from Barry Nilsson, a staff member “observed that the veins on the plaintiff’s neck (Mr Woodman) were standing up and his face was red” after allegedly interrogating a staff member about their “workload“ at the 2018 meeting.
City of Casey’s lawyers, which had denied the allegations, say the publications “concerned a complaint about a property developer’s behaviour towards employees” in the planning department of Casey Council “and what response would be appropriate to ensure the first defendant was providing a safe working environment to its employees”.
Casey Council corporate services director Sheena Frost welcomed the outcome of the defamation action being dropped which had “put considerable personal and professional strain on the officers involved”.
“During this time we did the best we could to support them, so we are all relieved we can all put this behind us,” she said.
“Council and the relevant officers strongly refuted the allegations made by Mr Woodman and instructed our lawyers to defend the claim.
“Mr Woodman will be required to pay council and the officers’ costs of the proceeding in accordance with the court rules.”
