Insights

Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety

With the first week of hearings due to commence on Monday 11 February, we thought it was timely to reflect on the preliminary hearing in mid-January and to give you some insights into what you...

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Foreign Bribery Update: December 2018

This Update covers a range of important developments in Australia and overseas in the area of foreign bribery policy, commercial crime, investigations and regulation to 19 December 2018.

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BOQ caught out on insurance policy clause

A judgment handed down in the Supreme Court of New South Wales this week involving the Bank of Queensland (Bank of Queensland Ltd v AIG Australia Ltd [2018] NSWSC 1689) highlights just how critical...

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Recalibration of funding commissions to better link risk and reward

Lenthall reaffirms the Federal Court’s preference for common fund orders with funding commission rates struck by the lesser of a multiple of costs or net recoveries to better link risk and reward.

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Linc Energy – High Court refuses special leave to Qld State Government

The High Court has refused to grant the Queensland State Government (Qld Government) special leave to appeal the Queensland Court of Appeal’s March 2018 decision in favour of the liquidators of...

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Competing class actions & beauty parades – and the winner is…?

Lee J’s recent decision in Perera v GetSwift Ltd to allow only one overlapping class action to proceed (the Webb Proceeding) and to permanently stay the other two Federal Court actions (Perera and...

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Foreign Bribery Update – May 2018

This Update covers a range of important developments in Australia and overseas in the area of foreign bribery policy, investigations and regulation to 1 May 2018. These developments will impact on...

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Linc Energy: appeal decision delivered

JWS has achieved a significant win on the Linc Energy appeal, in which we acted for Linc’s liquidators, PPB, against the Queensland State Government. The matter relates to the obligation of the...

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Dispute Resolution Update - Jan 2018

The latest insights into our case developments, matters in the spotlight, and broader news in the dispute resolution space.

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Justice Murphy clarifies Money Max and opens further the door for litigation funders and “Common Fun

Justice Murphy has clarified that the decision in Money Max was specific to the facts of that case, and not intended to establish broad principles that would apply to all cases in which a common...

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Continuous Disclosure Shareholder Class Actions in Australia

Shareholder class actions for alleged breaches of a listed company’s continuous disclosure obligations are an established part of the Australian legal landscape with more than 50 shareholder class...

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PPSR registration – Route [1]66 now closed

The New South Wales Supreme Court has found that a secured party can't rely on its own mistake when registering on the PPSR to claim that the defective registration “temporarily perfects” its...

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Acumen March 2017

Legal issues from March 2017.

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Acumen July 2016

Legal issues from July 2016.

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Widening the scope for judicial review of an adjudicator’s determination

The Probuild decision is likely to undermine the objective of the Security of Payment Act to provide a means of quickly and relatively inexpensively resolving disputes in relation to progress...

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Getting caught in the chain of responsibility

Scott...s Transport Industries Pty Ltd and Anor v Road and Maritime Services -- The impact and reach of chain of responsibility laws in the transport industry should not be underestimated....While...

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Australian freezing orders valid ahead of foreign judgments

In the recent decision of Pt Bayan Resources TBK v BCBC Singapore Pte Ltd [2014] WASCA 178, the Western Australian Court of Appeal...

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Australian 'restraint of trade' case has global implications

In a decision handed down on 17 October 2014, the High Court refused to grant special leave to appeal in respect of a challenge to the legality of the rule prohibiting the use of artificial...

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Challenging an adjudication determination

In the July 2013 edition of Acumen, we reported on the District Court judgment in Romaldi Constructions Pty Ltd v Adelaide Interior Linings Pty Ltd [2013] SADC 39, which concerned the Building and...

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Construction claim enforcement

What options are available to a contractor if it receives a favourable adjudication determination under security of payment legislation, but the principal still does not...

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Australian Foreign Bribery Review 2012 - what does 2013 herald?

The last 12 months saw a flourish of activity in the foreign bribery space. 2013 is likely to see an increasing focus on cross-border corruption investigations, closer cooperation between...

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High Court decision on share buy-backs and share capital accounts

On 5 December 2012, the High Court of Australia gave its judgment in Commissioner of Taxation v Consolidated Media Holdings Ltd...

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Expert determination - what are the choices?

Dispute resolution clauses in contracts often include an expert determination mechanism to resolve some or all disputes that might arise. Parties need to think about whether expert determination is

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International arbitration clauses in commercial contracts

International arbitration is an increasingly popular means of resolving disputes in contracts involving cross-border commercial transactions, primarily due to the ease with which arbitral awards...

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