Dan and Catherine Andrews agree to hand over phone records from day of crash with cyclist Ryan Meuleman
Former Victorian premier Dan Andrews has agreed to hand over phone records from the day his wife and a cyclist collided, just hours before a key court hearing.
Former Victorian premier Dan Andrews and his wife, Catherine have backflipped on their opposition to handing over phone records from the day a cyclist was injured.
Ryan Meuleman is suing law firm Slater & Gordon, alleging it failed to act in his best interest when negotiating an $80,000 compensation settlement with the Transport Accident Commission.
The then-teenage cyclist was injured when he collided with an SUV driven by Mrs Andrews in January 2013.
The case returned before the Supreme Court of Victoria on Monday as the Andrews were expected to fight a subpoena for phone records related to the collision.
But Associate Justice Melissa Daly was told an agreement had been reached, with the former premier and his wife set to hand over records from only the day of the crash, January 11.
Mr Meuleman’s barrister, James Catlin, said he had expected the hearing to be “fiercely contested”, but the Andrews had indicated they would no longer fight it at 8.05am.
“As of 4pm yesterday they were still objecting, it’s only at 8am today we get correspondence,” he said.
Mr Catlin said the Andrews’ decision to hire top silk Philip Crutchfield KC sent a message the subpoena hearing was to be fiercely objected.
The court was told the subpoena for documents was initially served in February requesting about 11 years of phone records from the Andrews.
In subsequent months this time span was reduced, first to six months, later to one month, before Mr Meuleman finally sought just the day of the crash.
Representing the Andrews, Sebastian Campbell, told Associate Justice Daly it was appropriate for his clients to initially refuse to hand over the documents sought, labelling it “oppressive”.
The documents agreed upon will now have to be supplied to Mr Meuleman’s lawyers by July 25.
Associate Justice Daly said it was “abundantly clear” from the evidence that Monday’s hearing was unnecessary, questioning why the Andrews took two weeks to confirm they would consent to the revised subpoena.
She ordered the Andrews to pay Mr Meuleman’s legal costs relating to Monday’s hearing.
The judge said it was reasonable for the Andrews to initially object to the subpoena, ordering Mr Meuleman to pay the costs incurred during negotiations up until June 25.
Mr Meuleman spent 11 days in hospital after the crash and received a compensation payout in 2016.
He now alleges Slater and Gordon failed to conduct a full investigation into the circumstances of the crash.
Mr Meuleman alleges the car struck him in Blairgowrie on the Mornington Peninsula just after 1pm, while Mr Andrews has insisted their car was struck by the cyclist.
“The cyclist was travelling at speed and hit our car at a perfect right angle very heavily. I want to make it clear – the cyclist hit our vehicle,” he told police after the incident.
Outside court, Mr Meuleman’s father, Peter, hailed the progress as “one step in a long battle”.
“It’s going to be a long road for us but we’re up to the fight and I want to thank everybody who has supported us and believed in us,” he said.
He said his family was trying to gather as much evidence as they possibly can, believing the initial police investigation failed to properly examine the incident.
“It’s taken its toll on Ryan and we’re trying to protect him as much as we can … yes, it’s an expensive ride and we’ll tough it out as long as we can,” he said.