Commonwealth of Australia v Vero Insurance Limited [2012] FCA 826

FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

Commonwealth of Australia v Vero Insurance Limited [2012] FCA 826 Citation: Commonwealth of Australia v Vero Insurance Limited [2012] FCA 826

Parties: COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA v VERO INSURANCE LIMITED ACN 005 297 807

File number: NSD 915 of 2011

Judge: YATES J

Date of judgment: 7 August 2012

Catchwords: INSURANCE – self-managed insurance fund involving Comcover and agencies of the Commonwealth as fund members – established under Financial Management and Accountability Orders (Amendment) 1998 – claim by the Australian Antarctic Division on Comcover for remediation costs of land in the Australian Antarctic Territory damaged by fuel oil spill – whether covered as property loss, destruction or damage – whether the respondent was liable under an ultimate net loss policy to indemnify Comcover for its liability or responsibility to indemnify the Australian Antarctic Division – whether claim statute-barred

Legislation: Australian Antarctic Territory Acceptance Act 1933 (Cth) s 2 Insurance Contracts Act 1984 (Cth) s 54 Federal Court Rules 2011 (Cth) r 16.21 Financial Management and Accountability Orders (Amendment) 1998 (Cth) Limitation Act 1969 (NSW) s 14 Antarctic Treaty, opened for signature 1 December 1959, 402 UNTS 71 (entered into force 23 June 1961) Art IV

Cases cited: BHP Billiton Iron Ore Pty Ltd v National Competition Council (2007) 162 FCR 234 Callaghan v Dominion Insurance Co Ltd [1997] 2 Lloyd's Rep 541 Central Electricity Board v Halifax Corporation [1963] AC 785 CGU Insurance Ltd v Watson [2007] NSWCA 301 Cigna Insurance Asia Pacific Ltd v Packer (2000) 23 WAR 159 Do Carmo v Ford Excavations Proprietary Limited (1984) 154 CLR 234 Firma C-Trade SA v Newcastle Protection and Indemnity Association [1991] 2 AC 1 Hawkins v Clayton (1986) 5 NSWLR 109 Kone Elevators Pty Ltd v Popa [2006] VSCA 26 Mabo v The State of Queensland (No 2) (1992) 175 CLR 1 Penrith City Council v Government Insurance Office of New South Wales (1991) 24 NSWLR 564 Post Office v Estuary Radio Ltd [1968] 2 QB 740 Post Office v Norwich Union Fire Insurance Society Ltd [1967] 2 QB 363 The Distillers Company Bio-Chemicals (Australia) Pty Limited v Ajax Insurance Company Limited (1974) 130 CLR 1 The State of New South Wales v The Commonwealth of Australia (1975) 135 CLR 337 (The Seas and Submerged Lands Case) Tillotson v ANZ Life Assurance Co Ltd (1997) 9 ANZ Insurance Cases ¶61-378 Virk v Gan Life Holdings Plc [2000] Lloyd's Rep IR 159 Legh-Jones N, Birds J, Owen D, MacGillivray on Insurance Law (11th ed, Sweet & Maxwell, 2008) Merkin R, Colinvaux's Law of Insurance (9th ed, Sweet & Maxwell, 2010) O'Neill PT, Woloniecki JW, The Law of Reinsurance in England and Bermuda (3rd ed, Sweet & Maxwell, 2010)