Strategic Property Holdings No. 3 Pty Ltd v Austbrokers RWA Pty Ltd [2012] NSWSC 1570

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Strategic Property Holdings No. 3 Pty Ltd v Austbrokers RWA Pty Ltd [2012] NSWSC 1570 Hearing dates: 26-29 November 2012 Decision date: 14 December 2012 Jurisdiction: Equity Division - Commercial List Before: Stevenson J Decision: Plaintiff entitled to damages Catchwords: PROFESSIONAL NEGLIGENCE - insurance broker - retainer - implied term - duty of care - whether breach of retainer and duty of care - causation - whether insurer could have denied liability to indemnify - whether decision of ACT Supreme Court correct - mitigation - whether plaintiff should have joined in action against engineer INSURANCE - Industrial Special Risks policy - accidental damage sub-limit - proper construction of policy Legislation Cited: Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act 2001 (Cth) Civil Liability Act 2002 Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) Cases Cited: Australian Casualty Co Ltd v Federico [1986] HCA 32; (1986) 160 CLR 513 Armory v Delamirie (1722) 1 Stra 505; 93 ER 664 Bebonis v Angelos [2003] NSWCA 13; (2003) 56 NSWLR 127 BP Refinery (Westernport) Pty Ltd v Shire of Hastings (1977) 180 CLR 266 Browne v Dunn (1893) 6 R 67 Capital Brake Service Pty Ltd v Meagher [2003] NSWCA 225 Codelfa Construction Pty Ltd v State Rail Authority (NSW) [1982] HCA 24; (1982) 149 CLR 337 Ginelle Finance Pty Ltd v Diakakis [2007] NSWSC 60 Hawkins v Clayton [1988] HCA 15; (1988) 164 CLR 539 Houghton v Immer (No 155) Pty Ltd (1997) 44 NSWLR 46 Legione v Hateley [1983] HCA 11; (1983) 152 CLR 406 LJP Investments Pty Ltd v Howard Chia Investments Pty Ltd (1990) 24 NSWLR 499 Paul v Cooke [2012] NSWSC 840 Pilkington v Wood [1953] Ch 770 Prime Infrastructure (DBCT) Management Pty Ltd v Vero Insurance Ltd [2005] QCA 369 Provincial Insurance Australia Pty Ltd v Consolidated Wood Products Pty Ltd (1991) 25 NSWLR 541 Ruddock v Taylor [2003] NSWCA 262; (2003) 58 NSWLR 269 Strategic Property Holdings No 3 Pty Ltd v Suncorp Metway Insurance Ltd [2009] ACTSC 8 Vairy v Wyong Shire Council [2005] HCA 62; (2005) 223 CLR 422 Walker v Geo H Medlicott & Son [1991] 1 WLR 727 Wyong Shire Council v Shirt [1980] HCA 12; (1980) 146 CLR 40 Texts Cited: Seddon, Bigwood and Ellinghaus, Cheshire & Fifoot, Law of Contract, 10th Aust ed (2012) Category: Principal judgment Parties: Strategic Property Holdings No. 3 Pty Limited (first plaintiff) Eclipse Property Group Limited (second plaintiff) Austbrokers RWA Pty Limited (first defendant) Austbrokers Sydney Pty Limited (second defendant) Representation: Counsel: R J Weber SC with W A D Edwards (plaintiffs) R J H Darke SC with H Chiu (defendants) Solicitors: Tresscox (plaintiffs) Lee & Lyons (defendants) File Number(s): SC 2011/32744 Publication restriction: Nil