Barry.Nilsson. Lawyers

Financial Product Advice – This time it’s personal

2 March 2021 | Insurance & Health Law

The High Court considered an appeal from a judgment of the Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia. The appellants (collectively ‘Westpac’) had given financial product advice to superannuation fund members over the phone and advised each to roll over their external superannuation accounts...

Fairfax falters with Honest Opinion Defence

12 February 2021 | Insurance & Health Law

In this decision the Federal Court of Australia considered the criteria for the defence of honest opinion in the context of allegedly defamatory imputations published in the Australian Financial Review, and whether the publisher’s conduct was...

Profit does not equate to loss!

4 February 2021 | Insurance & Health Law

This case considered whether a developer is entitled to damages for a solicitor’s alleged negligence and misleading conduct pertaining to the purchase of a property, despite later making a profit from the subsequent development and sale of the...

The continuing evolution of defamation law in Victoria

30 November 2020 | Insurance & Health Law

For some time now, defamation legislation has been a hotly debated area in the wake of numerous high profile claims and the increasingly widespread use of social and electronic communications. This prompted a review in July 2020 which resulted in the...

Delusional Facebook posts hit for $875,000

14 October 2020 | Insurance & Health Law

The Federal Court of Australia has awarded damages of $875,000 (including aggravated damages) to a Member of the House of Representatives, her husband and a not-for-profit charity organisation she founded arising out of “delusional” and...

Trustee de son tort – Director of corporate trustee caused trust funds to be distributed to himself

30 September 2020 | Insurance & Health Law

This case demonstrates the risks of not understanding what it means to have an interest in, or play a role in a trust. A director of a corporate trustee used money borrowed on security over the corporate trustee’s assets to acquire properties and...