Brokenshire Ventures Pty Limited v Commonwealth Bank of Australia [2019] NSWSC 1471

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Brokenshire Ventures Pty Limited v Commonwealth Bank of Australia [2019] NSWSC 1471 Hearing dates: 23 – 24 October 2019 Decision date: 28 October 2019 Jurisdiction: Common Law Before: Adamson J Decision: (1) Judgment for the defendants.

(2) Order the plaintiffs to pay the defendants' costs of the proceedings. Catchwords: BANKING AND FINANCE – banks – liabilities – negligence – nature of joint accounts – joint account usually operated by husband – sale of shares and withdrawal of proceeds by wife – whether CommSec and bank obliged to prevent transaction – relationship governed by terms of contract – no duty of care imposed Legislation Cited: Contracts Review Act 1980 (NSW) Evidence Act 1995 (NSW), s 69 Family Law Act 1975 (Cth), s 79 Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 (NSW), r 42.1 Cases Cited: Albrighton v Royal Prince Alfred Hospital [1980] 2 NSWLR 542 Astley v Austrust Ltd (1999) 197 CLR 1; [1999] HCA 6 Burden v Ainsworth (2004) 59 NSWLR 506; [2004] NSWCA 3 Codelfa Construction Proprietary Limited v State Rail Authority of New South Wales (1982) 149 CLR 337; [1982] HCA 24 Connor v Blacktown District Hospital [1971] 1 NSWLR 713 Rippon v Chilcotin (2001) 53 NSWLR 198; [2001] NSWCA 142 Simms Jones Ltd v Protochem Trading NZ Ltd [1993] 3 NZLR 369 Tai Hing Cotton Mill Ltd v Liu Chong Hing Bank Ltd [1986] AC 80 Toll (FGCT) Pty Limited v Alphapharm Pty Limited (2004) 219 CLR 165; [2004] HCA 52 Tomlin v Ford Credit Australia Ltd [2005] NSWSC 540 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Brokenshire Ventures Pty Limited (ACN 615 897 017) (First Plaintiff) Peter Hatch (Second Plaintiff) Commonwealth Bank of Australia Limited (ABN 48123 123 124) (First Defendant) Commonwealth Securities Limited (ABN 60067 254 399) (Second Defendant) Representation: Counsel: E Cohen (Plaintiffs) J Hynes (Defendants)