Westpoint's Carey blame shift thrown out of court
DateSeptember 21, 2013
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Jared Lynch
Business reporter
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Norm Carey claimed he had been misled and deceived by his lawyer about raising finance totalling $160 million. Photo: Erin Jonasson
Former Westpoint boss Norm Carey has lost his bid to blame the collapse of the property investment company on his lawyer, with a Federal Court judge slamming him as dishonest, evasive and ''inherently unreliable''.
Mr Carey, who founded Westpoint in the mid 1980s, claimed he had been misled and deceived by his lawyer Andrew Shearwood, of Freehills, about raising finance totalling $160 million. In 2006, seven years after the alleged misconduct, the company collapsed owing investors more than $388 million.
Federal Court judge Susan Kenny dismissed Mr Carey's claim, saying he was ''not an honest and reliable witness''.
''Mr Carey fabricated this evidence to support his case,'' she said. ''[He] was...