Re Rosewood Research Pty Ltd (No.2) [2014] NSWSC 1226

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Re Rosewood Research Pty Ltd (No.2) [2014] NSWSC 1226 Hearing dates: 22 August 2014 Decision date: 04 September 2014 Jurisdiction: Equity Division Before: Darke J Decision: The Court orders: (1) Pursuant to s 63 of the Trustee Act 1925, the Court advises the Trustees: (a) that they are justified in defending the claims made in the main proceedings (being proceedings number 2013/152562) as set forth in Parts 3 and 4 of the pleading (being the Statement of Claim and subsequent amended versions of it) to the extent of defending allegations 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6, as described in the Supplementary Statement of Facts dated 14 July 2014, insofar as such allegations involve the interpretation and application of the constituent documents of the trusts the subject of the proceedings; and (b) that they are justified in having recourse to the trust funds to pay their reasonable costs of so defending those allegations. (2) That the Trustees' costs of these proceedings (except for the costs of providing information to the Attorney-General and the Objectors after 20 September 2013 in clarification of the position in relation to the payment of the $92,752.01 out of the trust funds) may be paid out of the trust funds. (3) That the Objectors are released from the implied undertaking in respect of the documents appearing at pages 7 to 26 inclusive and 31 to 39 inclusive of annexure A to the Applicants' Further Submissions dated 21 October 2013, to the extent necessary to permit the use of such documents in proceedings number 2013/152562. (4) That the Objectors' Notice of Motion filed on 6 December 2013 is otherwise dismissed. (5) That the Objectors pay the Trustees' costs of the said motion, and the Directors' costs of the said motion. (6) That the Attorney-General's Notice of Motion filed on 6 December 2013 is dismissed. (7) That the Attorney-General pay the Trustees' costs of the said motion, and the Directors' costs of the said motion. (8) That the Objectors' application for their costs to be paid out of the trust funds is refused. Catchwords: EQUITY - trusts and trustees - applications to court for advice - charitable trusts - proceedings against trustees for breach of trust - proceedings raise issues as to terms of the trusts - whether trustees justified in defending allegations of breach of trust insofar as they involve the interpretation and application of constituent documents of trusts