Category: Brendan Nyst
  • Brendan Nyst, Dispute Resolution, Litigation

Winners And Losers

The thrill of the punt is not for everyone. It can be a tough game. To the victor goes the spoils, but to the rest only heartache. Litigation, like any gamble, needs a strong heart and deep pockets, and should always be proceeded by a careful cost/benefit calculation. Because not even the house, with all the odds stacked firmly in its favour, will always come up trumps.
  • Brendan Nyst, Criminal Law, International, Sport

Between Man And Myth

There is so often a deep, unpassable chasm between man and myth. The late James Rieher Snuka, the professional wrestling icon better known to his legion of fans as "Superfly," who died last month, was a hero to a whole generation of TV wrestling fans. Inducted into the World Wrestling Federation’s Hall of Fame in 1996, Superfly’s legendary ringside feuds with equally colorful giants of the sport like "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, back when an orchestrated wrestling match at Madison Square Garden was the biggest show on world television, made him the childhood idol of an army of juvenile 1980’s sports fans who thrilled to his daring and outrageous feats on the canvas. But the true story of Jimmy Snuka’s life left them all with a very different and darker legacy.
  • Brendan Nyst, Criminal Law, International, Opinion

Big Money Barneys

Big-time prize fighting has always walked hand in hand with big money litigation. It’s a world of feast and famine, full of tough guys and shrewd businessmen, all capable of being very heavy handed, each in their own way. The fast and the lucky rake in the big bucks while the rest are left to fight for the scraps. For more than 20 years the celebrated Don King was sued for allegedly short-changing nearly every one of his big name clients, from Joe Frazier to Mike Tyson, and even the late great Muhammad Ali. Some time ago our firm was involved in a client’s contract discussions with Don King Promotions about a scheduled heavyweight bout in Vegas. King’s approach to contract obligations was simple: ‘If you don’t like it, sue us. We’ve got more lawyers than you have.’
  • Brendan Nyst, Criminal Law, International, Opinion

Trial of the Century

I was just a kid when OJ was publicly apprehended by the LAPD. I knew little of the man known as ‘The Juice’, and had no understanding of his place in the psyche of 20th century USA. I had no idea he was so revered by the American public, or why, and had no inkling of the bloodshed that had defined LA’s racial divide in the decades preceding the case. I merely saw another celebrity on trial.
  • Brendan Nyst, Litigation, Opinion, Politics

Big Dog Says “Goodnight” – Queensland Lockout Laws

The hottest of hot topics in this state for the past couple of weeks has been the government’s push to implement stricter lockout laws, and tighten the rules around sales and service of alcohol. Premier Palaszczuk has made clear her willingness to die in the ditch over the issue, and without doubt her declared motives for so doing are admirable. She’s determined to reduce the instance of alcohol-fuelled violence on our streets, and who could argue against that?
  • Brendan Nyst, Commercial Law, Dispute Resolution

A Fine Commercial Line – Franchising Agreements And Breach Of Contract

Last month the Nyst Legal commercial litigation team spent nearly two weeks in the Federal Court in Melbourne, flanked by a phalanx of QC's, arguing the toss about exactly how far businesses can and can't go in talking up their product to the customers of their commercial competitors.
  • Brendan Nyst, Criminal Law, Human Rights, International, Opinion

Open Justice – Racial Inequality, Video Evidence And Probable Cause

Questions about racial inequality continue to simmer in the United States following last week's decision of a Staten Island Grand Jury not to indict Officer Daniel Pantaleo to stand trial for the killing of Eric Garner earlier this year. It's a decision which has even some of the country’s most staunchly conservative commentators, such as Fox News traditionalist Bill O’Reilly, scratching their heads in disbelief. Protesters in New York have taken up from where the citizens of Ferguson left off. But unlike the unsavoury shooting of Michael Brown in Missouri, which was shrouded in conflicting versions of events, the video evidence of Garner's death was there for all to see. The deceased's non-threatening behaviour was visible, his cries for help audible, and the excess use of force by the Officers, irrefutable. Upon examining the deceased's body, the coroner labelled Eric Garner's death a homicide, having regard to the fact that he died as a result of a violent attack.  The video clearly shows the officer applying a rear chokehold, a manoeuvre banned by the NYPD in 1993. The evidence was damning.  Or so we thought. On 3 December 2014, a Staten Island Grand Jury declined to indict the officer.
  • Brendan Nyst, Property

Supreme Court Rules Incentive Clawbacks Unenforceable

What goes up must come down, and vice versa. In a town that’s seen more than its share of booms and busts, landlords understand the concept all too well. In this town, when the cold winds of the economic winter blow, you cut your cloth to meet the market. If capturing a plum tenant means gifting them a rent-free period, or even shelling out for a fancy fit out, so be it. What you lose on the swing, you pick up on the merry-go-round. Or do you?