Nair v Arturus Capital Limited [2011] NSWSC 381

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Nair v Arturus Capital Limited [2011] NSWSC 381 Hearing dates: 21 February 2011 Decision date: 06 May 2011 Jurisdiction: Common Law Before: Harrison J Decision: Direct the parties to bring in short minutes of order reflecting these reasons and providing if necessary for the further conduct of the proceedings Catchwords: CONTRACTS - general contractual principles - construction and interpretation of contracts - successive employment agreements - whether later employment agreement was subject to a condition precedent to its operation or enforceability - where both parties given a unilateral right to terminate without cause - where employee terminated employment agreement - claim by employee to be entitled to payment of termination benefit upon resignation - whether benefit payable in absence of cause

ESTOPPEL - prior judicial determination of separate questions - Corporations Act ss 200B and 200F - judgment inter partes - res judicata - issue estoppel - Anshun estoppel - whether entitlement to termination benefit remains subject to approval by members of defendant in general meeting - where s 200F(2)(a) previously considered but s 200F(2)(b) not argued - whether unreasonable for employer not to have raised the issue for decision in earlier proceedings Legislation Cited: Corporations Act 2001 Cases Cited: Brambles Holdings Ltd v Bathurst City Council [2001] NSWCA 61; (2001) 53 NSWLR 153 Byrne v Macquarie Group Services Australia Pty Ltd [2011] NSWCA 68 Condor Developments Pty Ltd v Helsby [2010] WASCA 16 Nair v Arturus Capital Ltd [2010] NSWSC 329; 78 ACSR 43 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Chenicheri Hariharan (Hari) Nair (Plaintiff) Arturus Capital Limited (Defendant) Representation: Counsel: P Silver (Plaintiff) I R Pike (Defendant) Solicitors: HBL Ebsworth Lawyers (Plaintiff) Ellison Tillyard Callanan (Defendants) File Number(s): 2008/285665