Case Study:Friends of Leadbeater's Possum Inc v VicForests.
Introduction
This essay analysis centers around the case law Friends of Leadbeater's Possum Inc v VicForests, which was heard by the Federal Court of Australia. This paper was filed by the non-governmental organization Friends of Leadbeater's Possum Inc against the Victorian forestry enterprise VicForests, which was sued for logging forestry operations in 66 specified forest “coupes” in the Central Highlands region of Victoria. in 66 specified forest “coupes”, destroying the habitat of the endangered species the Greater Glider and the Leadbeater's Possum. Charges were filed asking the court to issue an injunction against the company to prevent logging activities in areas that continue…show more content… In analyzing the case, the judge first discusses expert opinions on evidence presented by professors and experts involved in the case. Subsequently, there is discussion on how conflicts between expert evidence are handled by court before summarizing conclusions reached when judgment is made despite differing expert opinions. The polished sentence has modified some expressions in the original sentence, making it more professional and fluent. I. How Justice Mortimer assesses the evidence of Professor Woinarski, Dr. Smith and Dr. Davey in Leadbeater’s Dr. Smith. Overall, Dr. Smith can be summarized through four aspects: highly specialized, empiricism, objectivity, and partial behavioral reservations. First, Dr. Smith is considered a careful and thoughtful witness with a strong command of his expertise. Second, his opinion was well thought out and the evidence was probative based on extensive fieldwork, including visits to numerous logging sites, and therefore highly probative. Third, Dr. Smith's advocacy for big glider protection is unassailable as an ecologist, and his views have to be credible and objective. Fourth, because he appears to be basing his opinion on interventions, some of Dr. Smith's conduct in court is qualified. Prof. Woinarski I summarize Professor Woinarski through three points: strong…show more content… First, guidelines for the admissibility of evidence are written under Australia's Evidence Act. In this case, it can reflect the relevance of evidence, reliability and qualification of expert witnesses. In the relevance of evidence, the evidence of a case must be directly related to the facts of the case in order to be accepted. For example, if VicForests representatives wanted to reduce the severity of the consequences of logging, plaintiffs' lawyers could challenge the lack of evidence and bias. In my opinion, regarding the reliability of expert evidence, expert witnesses need to prove that the opinion is based on scientific methods and principles. In the original article, Dr.Smith's qualifications as a witness and the scientific sources of his evidence are described in detail. Regarding the Code of Conduct for Expert Witnesses, in the Federal Court, all expert witnesses are required to adhere to the Code of Conduct for Expert Witnesses, which requires expert witnesses to give an impartial, unbiased opinion and to give evidence only in their area of expertise. In the original text, Dr.Smith responds to questions from the court by asking to see the raw material, providing sometimes reserved responses after fully understanding the content. In addition, the court needs to assess independence and bias. The court needs to find potential bias or conflicts of interest that could affect the
