By Karl Quinn
Vanessa Amorosi will appear in the Supreme Court of Victoria on Thursday as a legal dispute with her mother plays out in the public eye after a last-ditch attempt to have the matter set aside failed.
The big-selling singer, who lives in the US, is suing her mother, Joyleen Robinson, over the ownership of two properties, one in the south-east Melbourne suburb of Narre Warren, the other in California, held through separate family trusts. Robinson denies the claims against her.
Vanessa Amorosi, who lives in the US, is suing her mother over homes in Australia and California.
The trusts were established by Robinson, who was working as a casual cleaner at the time, as “the corporate structures through which income from Vanessa’s career was received”, Philip Solomon, KC, representing the singer, told the court on Tuesday.
Amorosi and her mother were and remain the joint shareholders of Vanjoy, established “in or about 1999”. Amorosi was the sole shareholder and director of Road Runner, through which her touring income and expenses were channelled, and Robinson was the sole director and shareholder of Llama, the vehicle through which the singer’s assets were held.
“These were structures set up, Vanessa was told, for her benefit at a time in her career where she was extraordinarily successful and young,” Solomon told the court. “If different structures had been set out or if those who ought to have been protecting her had done so honestly, there wouldn’t be a controversy 22 years later.”
Amorosi was just 18 when her second single, Absolutely Everybody, became a massive success, leading to her performing the song live at the closing ceremony of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. The then 19-year-old also performed at the opening ceremony, singing the power ballad Heroes Live Forever.
Joyleen Robinson (centre) leaves the Supreme Court of Victoria on Tuesday after her application to vacate the trial was dismissed. Credit: AAP
The Olympics boosted her profile internationally, and by 2001 Vanjoy reported an income of $1.3 million, the court was told.
In April of that year, Amorosi claims, funds from the trust were used to buy a 20-acre semi-rural property in Boundary Road, Narre Warren North, for $650,000. Robinson insisted her name go on the title “to protect Vanessa from creditors”, and she and her husband, Peter, have lived there ever since.
Amorosi is seeking to have the ownership of that property transferred to her solely. Failing that, she is seeking to have the court order that it be sold.
In 2012, Amorosi bought a house in Bell Canyon, California, for $1.27 million. In documents submitted by lawyers for Amorosi, it is claimed that her mother insisted it “go through the company”, meaning Llama. This property was Amorosi’s US home until it was sold three years later.
In late 2014, Amorosi bought, through the trust, a second US property in West Hills, California. Court documents state its value is $US850,000 (about $1.3 million), with a debt to Westpac of around $650,000.
The dispute between Amorosi and her mother began in September 2014, when the singer asked to be given full control of the trusts. According to claims by Amorosi in court documents, Robinson refused, “asserting that Vanessa’s husband would waste the funds”. Amorosi claims Robinson did, however, arrange for her own husband to replace her as sole director of the companies.
By 2017, the singer had engaged forensic accountants to examine the financial records of the trusts, and in March 2021, she commenced the legal proceedings against her mother, which have now reached court despite a mediation session in February 2022, an attempt last month to have the matter set aside, and a last-ditch bid on Tuesday morning to have it adjourned.
The matter will return to court on Thursday, when Amorosi is due to give evidence.
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