GIO Australia Ltd v P Ward Civil Engineering Pty Limited & Anor [2000] NSWSC 371

Reported Decision : [2000] 11 ANZ Ins Cas 61-467

New South Wales Supreme Court

CITATION : GIO Australia Ltd v P Ward Civil Engineering Pty Limited & Anor [2000] NSWSC 371 CURRENT JURISDICTION: Common Law FILE NUMBER(S) : SC 11935/99 HEARING DATE(S) : 20 October 1999 JUDGMENT DATE : 12 May 2000

GIO Australia Ltd - (Appellant) PARTIES : P WARD CIVIL ENGINEERING PTY LIMITED (First Respondent) Cassandra SCHMITZER (Second Respondent) JUDGMENT OF : Simpson J at 1

COUNSEL : Mr R Seton (Appellant) T Wolf (First Respondent) SOLICITORS : Herrald Evans Brew (Plaintiff) Remington & Co (First Defendant) LEGISLATION CITED : Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1946. Insurance Contracts Act 1984 DECISION : The Magistrate's decision was erroneous in law; The question posed in the stated case is answered accordingly.

THE SUPREME COURT OF NEW SOUTH WALES COMMON LAW DIVISION

SIMPSON J

Friday 12 May 2000

11935/99 GIO AUSTRALIA LTD v P WARD CIVIL ENGINEERING PTY LTD AND ANOR Judgment

HER HONOUR : 1 This appeal comes before the court by way of case stated by a Magistrate in the Local Court following his decision on 9 April 1997, to order that GIO Australia Limited (the present appellant, to whom I will refer as "GIO") be joined as a party to proceedings between P Ward Civil Engineering Pty Ltd (to whom I will refer as "Ward") and Cassandra Schmitzer (to whom I will refer as "Schmitzer"). The question posed in the stated case is whether the decision to join GIO as a party was erroneous in law. The issue concerns the application of s 6(1) of the Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1946. S 6 (1) is in the following terms: "6. (1) If any person (hereinafter in this Part referred to as the insured) has, whether before or after the commencement of this Act, entered into a contract of insurance by which he is indemnified against liability to pay any damages or compensation, the amount of his liability shall on the happening of the event giving rise to the claim for damages or compensation, and notwithstanding that the amount of such liability may not then have been determined, be a charge on all insurance moneys that are or may become payable in respect of that liability."