Jack de Belin tackling appeal, calls in Folau’s lawyers
Banned NRL star Jack de Belin has hired the same law firm Israel Folau is using as he tries to speed-up a Federal Court hearing to have his playing suspension for rape charges overturned.
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SUSPENDED Dragons star Jack de Belin has launched an all or nothing play in a bid to resurrect his rugby league career, drafting in a lawyer from the same firm Israel Folau is using in his own legal stoush.
De Belin has requested an expedited Federal Court hearing in his latest attempt to have his playing ban for rape charges overturned.
The 28-year-old launched an appeal against Judge Melissa Perry this afternoon, after she backed the NRL’s no-fault stand-down rule and rejected his claim for damages.
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The move has the potential to financially cripple de Belin. He could be hit with a $700,000 legal bill if he fails to win.
De Belin has already racked up almost half a million dollars in debt during his failed first federal court hearing.
He was ordered to pay the NRL’s legal costs, understood to be about $300,000, while his own legal fees are in excess of $100,000.
He will spend another six figure sum on his new legal counsel while a loss could force him to cover the NRL’s costs again.
De Belin has a new legal team including prominent lawyer Tony Gooch — who works with Macpherson Kelley, the same firm handling part of Folau’s wrongful dismissal case against Rugby Australia.
He has also enlisted the assistance of Arthur Moses SC, the president of the Law Council of Australia, to argue his case. Moses represented five Parramatta officials implicated in the Eels’ salary cap rorts.
The former NSW Origin star had argued the code’s hard-line stance was a restraint of trade that breaches consumer law, but Justice Perry ruled the NRL acted in response to a clear danger to their legitimate interests.
Now de Belin’s team says she made an error of law in reaching that landmark decision and failed to take into account his presumption of innocence while he faces aggravated sexual assault charges.
They claim Justice Perry wrongly concluded the controversial rule was not retrospective, would not substantially hurt his career and that the value of any future contract would not be significantly reduced.
Jack de Belin is using the same law firm as Israel Folau.
De Belin’s lawyers say Justice Perry erred by finding that sponsors, broadcasters and fans backed the NRL’s decision to sideline him, court documents show.
The judge failed to take into account that broadcasting rights revenue had already been fixed until the end of the 2022 season, and the absence of any proof that a commercial partner withdrew or threatened to withdraw existing or potential sponsorship agreements because of de Belin’s rape charge, they say.
De Belin also says the judge should have noted that just because police lay a charge doesn’t mean the defendant is guilty and while media may report it, an ordinary reasonable reader knows they are entitled to the presumption of innocence with acquittals not uncommon.
She also should have found it “entirely speculative” that an NRL survey found 1.4 million supporters left the game due to off-field scandals, yet she accepted it was an important consideration, the lawyers say.
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