Peter Mylne

BACKGROUND

Peter was admitted as a barrister in 1986. He practices in the areas of administrative law,commercial law, criminal law, insurance, real property, trade practices, trust law, wills and probate, workplace health and safety.

Peter has appeared in excess of 1500 trials, applications and mediations in courts and tribunals in Queensland, Victoria, South Australia and the Northern Territory. He has a breadth of expertise in civil and criminal jurisdictions.

Noteworthy cases in his career are:

• NK Collins Industries Pty Ltd v Twigg [2010] QSC 373 – A review of the authorities shows that this is the first time that an applicant has been successful in a judicial review of a decision of the Industrial Court of Queensland. In the same proceedings, in NK Collins Industries v Twigg (No 2) [2014] 2 Qd R 304 the Court of Appeal heard an argument on the question of the provision of particulars in a workplace health and safety prosecution. That decision altered the extent of the obligation of the prosecuting authority to provide particulars in Queensland in a prosecution of that nature.
• Rushlyn & Ors ats St. Leger Investments Pty Ltd [2013] FCCA 601 and Dorrian & Anor v Rushlyn Pty Ltd & Anor [2013] FMCA 101 – In each case it was successfully argued that a franchisor was not liable for engaging in misleading or deceptive conduct under the provisions of the Trade Practices Act 1974 (repealed).
• R v Patel [2011] QCA 081; [2012] HCA Trans 134; (2012) 247 CLR 531 – Peter appeared as junior counsel in the Court of Appeal, the successful application for special leave to the High Court and successful appeal to the High Court on behalf of Dr Patel. The circumstances of the case are well known. The High Court quashed convictions for manslaughter and grievous bodily harm.
• Heartwood Architectural Timber & Joinery v Mair [2009] 2 Qd R 499 – In this case an order was obtained that the opposing solicitor personally pay indemnity costs on the grounds of a serious dereliction of duty. Those arguments were again successful in Campbell, Campbell & Cannon as Executors of the Will of the Estate of the Late Donald Campbell, deceased v Campbell [2012] QSC 302.
• Cant Contracting Pty Ltd v Casella [2007] 2 Qd R 13 – Peter appeared as junior counsel in the Queensland Court of Appeal for the appellant involving an important point in respect of the rights of unregistered builders in the context of the Building and Construction Industry Payments Act 2004.
• R v P – In this case, a man stood trial in the Northern Territory Supreme Court in February 2010 on a charge of rape. The successful defence was based upon an argument that the accused suffered from a condition known as “sexsomnia” a form of parasomnia and was acting in an involuntary state.

Published Articles

• Omission or risk?: NK Collins Industries Pty Ltd v The President of The Industrial Court of Queensland and Twigg Proctor, Vol. 33, No. 10, Nov: 20-23.
• Payment pursuit: The Court of Appeal decision in Cant Contracting Pty Ltd v Casella & Anor. Proctor, 2007
• “Obvious Risks in the Workplace” – Qld Law Society Journal 2005 Vol. 27 No.1.