Man jailed during routine property dispute wins $300,000 after suing judge over ‘fundamental errors’

Federal circuit court judge Salvatore Vasta made series of basic errors when he locked up man known as Mr Stradford in late 2018, federal court finds

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A man jailed during a routine property dispute with his former wife has successfully sued a sitting judge who made what the federal court called serious and fundamental errors" before falsely imprisoning him.

The federal court found on Wednesday that inferior court judge Salvatore Vasta made a series of basic errors, exceeded his jurisdiction, and engaged in a gross and obvious irregularity of procedure" when he locked up the man, known only as Mr Stradford" in late 2018, and awarded Stradford $309,450 in damages.

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