The Snitch: High profile lawyer’s bid to suppress sex harassment case

Which high profile lawyer wants his sexual harassment case heard behind closed doors? Why is the District Court running on fumes? And why is an ex NRL star so upset? The Snitch is here.

High-profile Sydney lawyer Adam Houda is fighting to have the sexual harassment case brought against him by another lawyer heard behind closed doors.

Houda, who has acted on several noteworthy cases ranging from terrorists to NRL stars, has asked the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal to suppress the case brought against him by fellow criminal lawyer Hana Seraphim.

Snitch hears a major component of the evidence in the case allegedly includes pages of sexting messages.

Ms Seraphim launched the case against Houda, claiming he sexually harassed and victimised her while she was completing work experience at his firm, Lawyers Corp, in a s tint that ended in 2021.

Adam Houda.

Hana Seraphim. Picture: Instagram

Mr Houda denies the allegations about sexual advances in the strongest possible terms and is preparing to contest the case. He has also asked NCAT to suppress the entire case that is listed for hearing in Sydney from tomorrow.

It is understood Ms Seraphim opposes the application and will argue for the case to remain open.

COURT DRAMAS

The state’s District Court has been running on fumes of late. A lack of judges available to hear cases has added an extra logjam to the already under pressure court system that hears some of the state’s most serious cases.

And it has put the recently appointed boss of the court, Chief Judge Sarah Huggett, on the back foot.

Snitch correspondent Linda Silmalis was contacted by a source in the legal sector this week raising criticisms of Justice Huggett and the “significant disruptions at the Downing Centre District Court”.

Chief Judge Sarah Huggett. Picture: NewsWire/Damian Shaw

“Her management has allowed judges to take leave without appropriate oversight of court lists or be assigned away from the state’s busiest District Court, resulting in chaos that is now directly affecting victims, police, and the justice system itself,” the source said.

According to the source, it all adds up to limbo for accused people, victims and witnesses who are forced to wait while cases are delayed.

Justice Huggett responded this week that the problem is set to be fixed.

“As a result of the recent retirement of a number of long-serving Judges of the Court and the need to accommodate unexpected sick leave, the District Court has been operating with reduced resources over the last month or so,” a spokeswoman for Justice Huggett said.

“This is a temporary shortfall that will be corrected in the coming weeks as medical concerns resolve and the appointment of three new Judges to the Court in early November 2024.”

DON’T POKE HOPPA

Journalism is occasionally a contact sport and there are times where you’re best placed putting in the mouthguard when your job requires you to upset people for a living.

John Hopoate. Picture: NewsWire/Gaye Gerard

Which brings us to former NRL star John Hopoate.

We wrote a piece recently flagging that his NRLW-playing daughter Pani Hopoate was set to face court to answer to a charge of driving on a suspended licence.

It was a similar charge to that faced by her father, who has fronted court previously for driving offences.

The former Manly winger hit the keyboard and sent us an email in reply. The subject line of the email was “F..kwit” and, in it, the 50-year-old wrote: “No 1 gives a F... about your shit article this morning C... Stop using my name to get your F...EN shit name out their MUT. No 1 knows who you are or gives a f... F...EN GERM. Hope I run into you 1 day C... FACE.”

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