JUQGMENT No. cecccansannssoneseel eungnseceset JUDGMENT No. Second LBB IN_ THE FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA NEW SOUTH WALES DISTRICT REGISTRY ) NG 197 of 1995 ) GENERAL DIVISION ) CORAM: PLACE: DATE: BETWEEN: AND: AND BETWEEN: AND BETWEEN: AND: AND BETWEEN: AND: Burchett J. Sydney 11 March 1996 NEWS LIMITED Applicant AUSTRALIAN RUGBY FOOTBALL LEAGUE LIMITED & OTHER Respondents AUSTRALIAN RUGBY FOOTBALL LEAGUE LIMITED & ANOTHER Cross-Claimants in the First Cross-Claim NEWS LIMITED & OTHERS ' Cross-Respondents to the First Cross-Claim SOUTH SYDNEY DISTRICT RUGBY LEAGUE FOOTBALL CLUB LIMITED & OTHERS Cross—Claimants in the Second Cross-Claim NEWS LIMITED & OTHERS Cross~Respondents to the Second Cross-Claim BRISBANE BRONCOS RUGBY LEAGUE CLUB LIMITED & OTHERS Cross-Claimants in additional Cross-Claims AUSTRALIAN RUGBY FOOTBALL LEAGUR LIMITED & ANOTHER Cross—Respondents to additional Cross~Claims 2. EX TEMPORE REASONS FOR JUDGMENT I make the orders which are contained in the document I have had prepared utilising the various short minutes that were handed up. I will have that handed down now. A stay has been sought pending an application for leave to appeal, and pending any appeal. I think it would be right to stay order 8 upon the appointment of a Receiver on appropriate terms. As regards the remaining orders, it has to be borne in mind that the proceedings were brought on, conducted, and determined with a considerable sense of urgency. This was done, quite expressly, as a more desirable course than the holding of an interlocutory hearing in the middle of last year. All parties expressed or acquiesced in the view that I should decide the matter, before the commencement of the 1996 competition, for the very reason that some finality about the claims and counter-claims affecting the conduct of that competition was seen as essential. I have complied with that aim and delivered a decision. It would, I think, be inconsistent with the basis on which the proceedings were heard to hold now that the balance of convenience favours a stay. The wounds which I have held were unlawfully inflicted upon the cross-claimants might well prove fatal if they were not stanched by appropriate and immediate 3. relief. There was a great deal of evidence that two premier competitions are not sustainable. What I do today is to make the orders I have held to be required now, indicating only that I am prepared to stay order 8 on the basis I have mentioned. Otherwise, I refuse any stay, and apart from the comments I have just made, I reserve my full reasons for these orders, including the matter of a stay. I certify that this and the preceding two (2) pages are a true copy of the Reasons for Judgment herein of his Honour Justice Burchett. Associate: byigh Date: 12 March 1996