Morrison guilty of contempt of court

The former owner of Morrison Country Clothing has been found guilty of contempt of court following a historic case brought about by the Textile Clothing and Footwear Union (TCFUA).

The Victorian Federal Court has ordered that Brian Morrison, whose Melbourne-based company went into liquidation in July, be fined $10,000 and ordered to pay the union's costs.

The case centred around a hearing in 2006 when the union alleged Morrison had had "given work out" to outworkers but failed to comply with the Clothing Trades Award.

The order came about after the court found Morrison had followed "a pattern of disregard" for the court's orders by failing to file a defence to the charge. He had also failed to appear at four direction hearings and two court-ordered mediations.

In releasing his findings, Justice J Tracey said the contempt hearing was adjourned from November 2007 to December 2007 and then to February 2008 for Morrison's benefit.

Despite this, Morrison did not appear at the hearing in February, nor did he file any material on behalf of himself or his company. The matter was finally heard in April when despite appearing Morrison denied that he was in contempt and offered no apology.

"I concluded that the brief affidavit filed by Mr Morrison did not comply with the order and that Mr Morrison's conduct was not merely casual, accidental or unintentional but constituted wilful disobedience," the judge noted.

The TCFUA has originally sought a fine of $50,000. However Justice Tracey said that in offering Morrison one more chance he would agree to reduce the penalty to $5000 if Morrison agrees to file and serve the documents by January 23.