Daily Banking: Friday, 24 April 2015 View in browser

A daily Bulletin listing our choice of Decisions of Superior Courts of Australia.
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Executive Summary (One Minute Read)
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission v ACN 117 372 915 Pty Ltd (in liq) (formerly Advanced Medical Institute Pty Ltd) (FCA) - consumer law - treatments for premature ejaculation and erectile dysfunction - unconscionable conduct - declarations and orders
Commonwealth Bank of Australia v The Right Reverend Ian Palmer, Bishop of the Diocese of Bathurst (NSWSC) - privilege - no waiver of legal professional privilege by bank - Court declined to order production of documents
Dowker v Paoletti (SASCFC) - residential tenancies - no error in order for vacant possession of property on basis of failure to comply with residential tenancies agreement
Enviro Systems Renewable Resources Ltd (Receivers & Managers Appointed) v Westpac Banking Corp (SASC) - corporations - winding up - no genuine off-setting claim in respect of statutory demand - appeal dismissed
KEP Management Services Pty Ltd v Goldwest Enterprises Pty Ltd (WASC) - corporations - statutory demand set aside on basis of genuine off-setting claim
Electricity Generation and Retail Corporation t/as Synergy v Woodside Energy Ltd (WASC) - costs - special costs orders granted pursuant to s280(2) Legal Profession Act 2008 (WA)
Summaries With Link (Five Minute Read)
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission v ACN 117 372 915 Pty Ltd (in liq) (formerly Advanced Medical Institute Pty Ltd) [2015] FCA 368
Federal Court of Australia
North J
Consumer law - unconscionable conduct - contract - AMI offered treatments for premature ejaculation and erectile dysfunction advertised to result in longer lasting sex - ACCC alleged AMI engaged in unconscionable conduct contrary Trade Practices Act 1974 (TPA) and Australian Consumer Law - ACCC also alleged refund term unfair and void under ACL - ss21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 27, 232, 239, 240, 243, 246 & 250 Competition and Consumer Act 2010 - ss97 & 14 Evidence Act 1995 - ss51AB & 80 TPA -  held: AMI’s conduct unconscionable - contract term unfair - CEO made all critical decisions relating to business of AMI - CEO responsible for AMI’s unconscionable conduct - orders and injunctions made - CEO excluded for seven years from continuing main role in business of AMI which involved the unconscionable conduct - declarations and orders made.
AMI
Commonwealth Bank of Australia v The Right Reverend Ian Palmer, Bishop of the Diocese of Bathurst [2015] NSWSC 450
Supreme Court of New South Wales
Rein J
Legal professional privilege - bank was seeking to recover amount under asserted letter of guarantee given by Bishop in respect of loans to fund - defendants’ solicitors served notice to produce on bank - whether legal professional privilege in respect of two documents had been waived by bank by reason of banks’ pleadings and content of affidavit of bank manager - held: bank had not made assertions about content of privileged communications while at the same time seeking to maintain privilege - bank was not making assertions about its state of mind or bank manager’s state of mind in circumstances where confidential information likely to have affected that state of mind - bank had not waived privilege - Court declined to order production of documents.
Commonwealth
Dowker v Paoletti [2015] SASCFC 43
Full Court of the Supreme Court of South Australia
Kourakis CJ; Stanley & Parker JJ
Landlord and tenant - residential tenancies - Residential Tenancies Tribunal made order for vacant possession of respondent’s property - primary judge rescinded Tribunal’s decision subject to appellants’ complying with tenancy agreement - primary judge subsequently found appellants failed to comply with tenancy agreement - primary judge discharged earlier orders made order for vacant possession - s95  Residential Tenancies Act 1995 - held: there was proper basis for finding appellants failed to comply with tenancy agreement - primary judge did not err in discharging orders or making order for vacant possession - appeal dismissed.
Dowker
Enviro Systems Renewable Resources Ltd (Receivers & Managers Appointed) v Westpac Banking Corp [2015] SASC 59
Supreme Court of South Australia
Master Dart
Corporations - winding up - statutory demand - plaintiff sought to set aside statutory demand served on it by defendant in respect of money owing under banking facilities - plaintiff sought to set aside statutory demand - plaintiff’s land sold by receivers allegedly at undervalue - receivers’ duties - off-setting claim - ss420A, 423, 459C, 459H, 459J & 459M Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) - s77(4) Transfer of Land Act 1958 - held: Court not satisfied plaintiff established genuine off-setting claim - application dismissed.
Enviro
KEP Management Services Pty Ltd v Goldwest Enterprises Pty Ltd [2015] WASC 132
Supreme Court of Western Australia
Master Gething
Corporations - statutory demand - applicant sought orders pursuant to s459G Corporations Act 2001 setting aside statutory demand for amounts owing under agreements for provision of workers by respondent - off-setting claim - sufficiency of evidence - assessment whether or not offsetting claim genuine based on the face value of the claim - ss459H, 459J & 459M - held: statutory demand set aside on basis of off-setting claim - conditions imposed.
KEP
Electricity Generation and Retail Corporation t/as Synergy v Woodside Energy Ltd [2014] WASC 469
Supreme Court of Western Australia
Martin CJ
Costs - Court refused leave to appeal from an arbitral award fixing price at which gas would be sold to buyer by sellers - sellers sought orders pursuant to s280(2) Legal Profession Act 2008 (WA) - general effect of orders sought would be to permit taxing officer to award costs without being limited by applicable costs determinations in respect of general hourly rates for particular classes of practitioner, maximum amounts specified in respect of various items, or maximum hours specified in relation to those items - held: complexity of issues litigated, financial significance of issues, and legal resources applied by each party to litigation leave no room for any doubt whatsoever that order under s280(2) appropriate - special costs orders granted.
Electricity
Swallows
By Leonora Speyer
 
They dip their wings in the sunset,
They dash against the air
As if to break themselves upon its stillness:
In every movement, too swift to count,
Is a revelry of indecision,
A furtive delight in trees they do not desire And in grasses that shall not know their weight.
 
They hover and lean toward the meadow
With little edged cries;
And then,
As if frightened at the earth’s nearness, They seek the high austerity of evening sky And swirl into its depth.
 
Leonora Speyer