High Court of Australia Hears the Magill vs. Magill Paternity
Fraud Case
The High Court of Australia heard the Magill vs. Magill case on
April 7, 2006
Transcripts can be read on this website
[full
story]
Australia's High Court Judgment
The media release of November 9, 2006, from Australia's High
Court regarding their decision can be read here
More ...
The Judgment can be read here
More ..
Paternity fraud 'dad' loses appeal
The Age, Australia, November 9, 2006
A man who sued his former wife after paying child support for two
children fathered by his wife's lover today lost his appeal to the
High Court.
The judges unanimously ruled that the case for paternity fraud
brought by Liam Neale Magill failed.
Three judges held that no action for deceit could lie in
representations about paternity made between spouses.
More ..
Husband loses 'duped' child support claim
The Sydney Morning Herald, Australia, by Tim Dick,
November 9, 2006
 |
|
Liam Magill ... lost his claim.
Photo: Paul Harris |
|
A man who claimed he was duped into supporting his wife's
two children has lost his claim for damages against his wife
for supporting them.
The High Court in Melbourne today rejected a suit by Liam
Magill, who married Meredith Magill in 1988, and with whom
he thought he had fathered three children.
But the youngest two were not his; fathered instead by
another man, his wife's lover.
He paid child support for all three children until 1999 and,
in 2000, DNA testing proved he was not the father of the two
youngest children.
Mr Magill won $70,000 in the Victorian County Court for
economic loss and a psychiatric condition because, the court
found, his wife intended him to sign the birth forms as the
father, knowing he was not the father.
That decision was overturned, with the Court of Appeal
finding he had not relied on the birth forms to do anything
except give the children his surname.
More .. |
Duped 'dad' to fight court ruling
The Age, By Peter Gregory, Chief court reporter, April 16, 2005
A Melbourne man who found he was paying maintenance for another man's children is challenging a court
decision that removed a $70,000 damages payout earlier awarded to him.
Liam Neal Magill, 54, has lodged an application for special leave to appeal to the High Court against a
ruling made last month in favour of his ex-wife, Meredith Jane Magill, 38.
Mr Magill took legal action in January 2001 after DNA tests proved he had not fathered two of the couple's
three children.
[full
story]
PRESS RELEASE - 22APR05
A Landmark Decision
By Vivien Mavropoulos, Instructing Solicitor for Liam Magill
On the 31 January 2002, Mr Magill issued proceedings in the County court based on the law of deceit. Mr
Magill alleged that he suffered loss and damages for loss of earnings and use of moneys and also for
personal injuries, comprising severe anxiety and depression in consequence of false representations made by
Mrs Magill as to the paternity of two of their three children.
More ..
Court test for duped fathers in 'DNA age'
The Australian, Australia's national newspaper, by Natasha
Robinson, November 19, 2005
A FATHER who was tricked into paying tens of thousands of dollars
to his unfaithful ex-wife for two children that were not his has won
the right to take his six-year battle for compensation to the High
Court.
A three-member sitting of the court sent Liam Magill's case to
the full bench after finding yesterday that the dispute was an
appropriate test of emerging social dilemmas in the "age of DNA" and
sperm donation.
Mr Magill was initially awarded $70,000 by the Victorian County
Court in November 2002 when he sued his wife for general damages and
economic loss from his payment of child support.
However, his former wife, Meredith Magill, 37, successfully
appealed against the decision when the Victorian Court of Appeal
ruled there was no evidence to show she had intended to deceive her
then husband about the paternity of the children.
More ..
Australia's High Court takes support case
United Press International (UPI), Australia, November 19, 2005
MELBOURNE, Nov. 19 (UPI) -- Australia's High Court has agreed to hear the case of a man trying to recoup
tens of thousands in child support he paid for children he didn't father.
Liam Magill had been thwarted in his efforts for six years to get back the money after DNA tests proved two
of three children he thought were his were actually someone else's, The Australian reported Saturday.
More ..
| CCRC editor's note: The above article is all
wrong. The case of Liam Magill was never about child
financial support. The case was about damages resulting from
the paternity fraud. which were in addition to amounts owed
him for supporting children that weren't his biological
children. The mother already owed Liam Magill the the cost
of raising the 2 children during the marriage and for child
support paid after the end of the marriage when she received
child financial support from her ex-husband. Under
Australian family law, the Child Support Agency (CSA), the
national government collection agency, had the obligation to
collect this from the mother.
Many of the newspapers in Australia and elsewhere got the
essence of the paternity fraud case wrong and misreported on
it.
Reference the new family laws of Australia as of June
2005.
With regards to another lawsuit by Magill which is
against the CSA, Liam Magill has reported to the Canadian
Children's Rights Council that the CSA had been delinquent
in seeking repayment by the mother and is suing them for
their lack of action to collect on his behalf. His case is
basically that they have not done what they do for parents
that receive child financial support payments. |
Child Support Agency forced to pay back wrongly accused men
The Guardian, U.K. , David Hencke, Westminster correspondent, Monday November 28, 2005
The Child Support Agency has had to refund hundreds of thousands of pounds in maintenance payments to more
than 3,000 men after DNA tests revealed that they had been wrongly named by mothers in paternity suits. One
in six men who took a DNA test to challenge claims by women that they were the fathers of their children
were cleared by the results, according to official figures disclosed by the agency.
Under CSA rules, men must start paying maintenance the moment they are named by mothers as the father of
the child. They can challenge the ruling by asking for a DNA test but have to pay for it themselves.
More ..
Dudded dad wins OK for compo fight
Herald Sun, Australia, by Norrie Ross, law reporter, November 19, 2005
A MAN who found he was supporting two children he had not fathered can continue his fight for compensation.
Liam Magill, 54, hugged his current partner after the High Court yesterday granted him special leave to
appeal against a ruling that he was not entitled to compensation.
During arguments in the case Justice Michael Kirby said the issues of parenthood were important in an age
of DNA testing.
In March, the Victorian Court of Appeal stripped Mr Magill of a $70,000 County Court payout from his
ex-wife, Meredith, on a legal technicality.
Mr Magill had said birth certificates shown to him by his ex-wife led him to believe he was the father of
a daughter and son.
More ..
Australian man wins lawsuit against ex-wife for Paternity Fraud
More ..
|
