Last week the ACT Court of Appeal found in favour of an occupier of a car park in a negligence case: Jennings v George Harcourt Management Pty Ltd [2018] ACTCA 50. The decision is a reminder that the issues of ‘foreseeable risk’ and ‘reasonable response’ must not be conflated when considering whether a party has […]
Bank of Queensland Ltd v AIG Australia Ltd [2018] NSWSC 1689 The NSW Supreme Court recently considered the application of a “related wrongful acts” aggregation provision in the context of a representative proceeding commenced against the insured, Bank of Queensland. The Court held that the representative proceeding itself constituted one “claim” under the policy, but […]
The Telecommunications and Other Legislation Amendment (Assistance and Access) Bill 2018 was introduced to Parliament on 20 September. While the Bill may sound innocuous, its scope and implications could significantly impact personal data security in Australia and make it easier for hackers to access personal data stored on devices. Technology commentators say it will be […]
Last week, The Australian Human Rights Commission released its fourth survey on the prevalence, nature and reporting of sexual harassment in Australian workplaces and the community. The results were not good, with one in three of the 10,000 Australians surveyed saying they had been sexually harassed at work. New data from the AHRC also shows […]
Last week the NSW Court of Appeal found in favour of a cleaning contractor in Argo Managing Agency Pty Ltd v Al Kammessy [2018] NSWCA 176. The Court reiterated that the duty of care owed by a cleaner is to exercise reasonable care to identify and remove potential hazards, not to guarantee that all hazards […]
On 13 June 2018, the High Court held that loss of future superannuation pension payments may be compensated as loss of earning capacity, but that the loss of future aged pension payments are not. In this update, our Melbourne team of Allison Hunt (Special Counsel), Andrew Seiter (Partner) and Jackson Pannam (Associate) explore the circumstances […]
With the increasing number of litigation funders and plaintiff class action law firms, the threat of multiple competing class actions in respect of the same issues and the associated increased costs are an ever increasing risk for both insurers and insureds alike. The recent Federal Court decision of Justice Lee in Perera v GetSwift Ltd […]
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) affects businesses across the globe, despite originating in the European Union (EU) and comes into force today. It is not too late to consider the impact as an Australian or New Zealand business owner. What makes this new regulation unique is the obligations imposed on businesses worldwide to comply […]
As published in the November 2017 issue of Law Talk, the official magazine of the New Zealand Law Society. Wotton Kearney’s Auckland Partner Rebecca Scott and Solicitor Ines Shennan review the Supreme Court of New Zealand’s decision involving the termination of employment of two pilots on the grounds of retirement age in Brown & Anor […]
Ku-ring-gai Council v Chan [2017] NSWCA 226 What you need to know The New South Wales Court of Appeal has delivered a decision that creates significant difficulties for subsequent purchasers of domestic properties who seek recovery from building consultants for defective works when recourse against the builder under statutory home warranty schemes is available. This […]
