A recent decision in the United Kingdom has shed light on the topical issue surrounding the proper extent of judicial intervention. The case of Serafin v Malkiewicz & Ors [2019] EWCA Civ 852 ensued after Mr Serafin appealed an earlier decision on a number of grounds, including that the trial judge had exercised unfair judicial treatment against him.

Mr Serafin was a Polish immigrant who relocated to London where he subsequently engaged in a number of small business ventures, including a food business, which he launched in 2008. In 2011, a bankruptcy order was issued in relation to that business, with the Official Receiver finding Mr Serafin had engaged in misconduct by disposing of £123,743 whilst insolvent. As a result, Mr Serafin was made subject to a five-year Bankruptcy Restrictions Undertaking (BRU) in 2012.

In October 2014, Mr Serafin was the subject of an article published in Nowy Czas, a magazine popular among London’s Polish community.  The article was entitled ‘Bankruptcy Need Not Be Painful’ and Mr Serafin contended that it contained serious defamatory allegations about him that amounted to a character assassination. He subsequently brought an action against the magazine’s editor and co-publishers, complaining of 14 different defamatory allegations.

The matter was heard over a 7-day period, after which Justice Jay found that many of the allegations were in fact ‘seriously defamatory’.  Despite this, his Honour dismissed the claim in its entirety after finding some of the allegations to be untrue. Mr Serafin subsequently appealed the decision on five grounds, including that the trial judge had shown him ‘unfair judicial treatment’.

On appeal, counsel for Mr Serafin asserted that the judge’s interventions were accusatory, with the judge acting as an advocate for the defendant’s case rather than a neutral umpire. Mr Serafin also argued that the judge ought to have considered that there was an inherent risk of unfairness on the basis that he was an unrepresented litigant who was not legally qualified and did not have English as a first language, whilst his opponent was a very experienced silk.

In doing so, Mr Serafin tendered evidence that Justice Jay had formed a prejudicially adverse view of his evidence and character. The evidence included comments made by his Honour that Mr Serafin was “fundamentally untrustworthy” and warning Mr Serafin that “you will lose” and “I will hold things against you.” His Honour also told Mr Serafin “your reputation is already starting to fall apart, because you are a liar and you do treat women in a frankly disgraceful way.”

Furthermore, when counsel for the defendants suggested that the judge ask Mr Serafin which parts of the article he maintained were false, Justice Jay quipped, “I would not even bother, Mr Metzer, I think we have got to assume every point is lies.”.

On appeal, the court held that it was wrong for Justice Jay to “descend into the arena and give the impression of acting as an advocate”. In doing so, it concluded that it was “immediately apparent…that the Judge’s interventions during the Claimant’s evidence were highly unusual and troubling” and that his Honour “used language which was threatening, overbearing, and frankly, bullying”.

In deliberating this ground, the court considered Michel, which notes that not all departures from good practice render a trial unfair.  However, having regard to the ‘nature, tenor and frequency of the Judge’s interventions’, the court concluded that an appeal was warranted.

In allowing the appeal, the court declared that Justice Jay “not only seriously transgressed the core principle that a judge remains neutral during the evidence, but he also acted in a manner which was, at times, manifestly unfair and hostile to the Claimant”.

Ultimately, this case reinforces that the role of a judge is to determine the dispute of the parties impartially and that one should not engage in bullying or unnecessary intervention. Although a UK case, it reflects trends in the Australian legal system, with almost two thirds of Victorian barristers reported to have been bullied from the bench. The rising number of instances such as this certainly begs the question of whether Queensland ought to create a Judicial Commission as has been done in New South Wales.

The scope of judicial intervention is a complex topic, which requires an open debate.