Victoria argues it should not be responsible for consequences of Lawyer X’s alleged illegal conduct

The state of Victoria has been granted leave to amend its defence in Ms Gobbo’s civil claim.

Nicola Gobbo’s legal team has been granted leave to amend their defence in her civil claim against the state. Picture: Andrew Tauber

The state of Victoria should not be responsible for any loss caused to barrister-turned-police informer Nicola Gobbo to the extent her provision of confidential client information to Victoria Police was illegal, lawyers for the state argue.

The state’s lawyers made a last-minute application to amend their defence to Ms Gobbo’s civil claim which was granted by Supreme Court judge Andrew Keogh on Monday, with the trial set to begin on September 30.

Police recruited Ms Gobbo, who fed them information about her gangland war clients while acting as their criminal defence barrister in the 2000s, a practice that led to a multimillion-dollar royal commission into the management of police informants.

Ms Gobbo, also known as Lawyer X, reportedly received a $2.88m settlement from Victoria Police in 2010 and is now suing the state for compensation for injury, loss and damage she claims she suffered as a result of its alleged negligence in its use of her as an informer.

The state is now arguing that the court should consider the alleged illegality of Ms Gobbo’s actions in determining whether it owed her a duty of care and whether it breached that duty.

Barrister for the state, Bernard Quinn KC, told the court the amendments to the defence were “nothing other than the ordinary clarifications that occur before trial”.

Ms Gobbo’s barrister, Tim Tobin SC, did not oppose the amendments but raised concerns about requiring further information.

Justice Keogh allowed the amendments.

The Victorian government has moved to block Ms Gobbo’s case by introducing its State Civil Liability Bill into parliament to limit liability for civil claims related to information sharing or other assistance provided to Victoria Police by Ms Gobbo or slain lawyer Joseph Acquaro, who shared information to police about former clients. The bill has been criticised by some lawyers and human rights groups.