Ceresola TLS AG v Thiess Pty Ltd & John Holland Pty Ltd [2011] QSC 115

The Supreme Court of Queensland has refused to grant an injunction restraining a party from calling on a bank guarantee despite there being serious questions to be tried. The Court affirmed the general rule that, in the absence of fraud and unconscionability, courts will not grant an injunction. Bank guarantees have two purposes: one is to provide security, and the other is to allocate risk as to which party should be out of pocket while a dispute is resolved. The Court took the view that the terms of the contract when taken together with the unconditional nature of the bank guarantee showed an intention that the contractor should be out of pocket pending resolution of the dispute; that intention was independent of the seriousness of the questions to be tried.

Reproduced with permission of Allens Arthur Robinson and in accordance with their terms of use.

In brief: The far-reaching personal property securities reform is due to come into force in May 2011 and companies with significant intellectual property assets will be affected by the sweeping changes the new legislation will bring to Australia’s commercial law. Partners Diccon Loxton (view CV) and Tim Golder (view CV), Special Counsel Rebecca Sadleir (view CV) and Senior Associate Robyn Chatwood report on how the changes will affect IP owners.

This is the fourth in a series of Focus articles that looks at the effect of the new legislation across a range of industries.

• Scenarios
• Some concepts
• IP provisions
• Steps to obtain and protect a security interest
• The register
• Priority
• Enforcement
• Back office queries
• Terms of contracts
• How can you start preparing for the reforms?
• Looking forward
• Business Impact Scoping Tool

Reproduced with permission of Allens Arthur Robinson and in accordance with their terms of use.

At least 10 class actions being stymied by a litigation funding stalemate were unlocked yesterday as the Federal Government confirmed it would introduce new regulation to undo a Federal Court decision made last year

Read more in theNewLawyer and reproduced with permission.

Date of enactment: 23 April 2010

I refer you to the summary on the Supreme Court of Queensland Library site:

An Act to adopt the National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009 (Cwlth) (as amended) and the National Consumer Credit Protection (Transitional and Consequential Provisions) Act 2009 (Cwlth), and to refer certain matters relating to the provision of credit and certain other financial transactions to the Parliament of the Commonwealth, for the purposes of section 51(xxxvii) of the Commonwealth Constitution, to repeal the Consumer Credit (Queensland) Act 1994 and the regulations under that Act, to repeal the Credit Act 1987 and the regulations under that Act, to provide for transitional and other matters relating to the referral of those matters and the repeal of those Acts and regulations, to continue to provide for a maximum annual percentage rate for credit contracts and to make consequential amendments to the Acts mentioned in the schedule.

The provisions of this Act, other than parts 2 and 5, will commence on a day to be fixed by proclamation.

The Act adopts the National Credit legislation as within the meaning of section 51(xxxvii) of the Commonwealth Constitution. The National Credit legislation comprises the: National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009 (Cth) as originally enacted, and as later amended by the National Consumer Credit Protection Amendment Act 2010 (Cth); and National Consumer Credit Protection (Transitional and Consequential Provisions) Act 2009 (Cth).

The objectives of the Credit (Commonwealth Powers) Act 2010 are to refer constitutional power for credit (including finance broking) to the Commonwealth and repeal the Credit Act 1987, the Consumer Credit (Queensland) Act 1994, the appended template Consumer Credit Code, the Consumer Credit (Queensland) Special Provisions Regulation 2008 and the Consumer Credit Regulation 1995.

Brisbane Barrister – David Cormack

The closing date for submissions is 4 June 2010.

Brisbane Barrister – David Cormack

Brisbane Barrister – David Cormack

Brisbane Barrister – David Cormack