Personal costs orders and the Civil Procedure Act

A recent case highlights how important it is for practitioners to comply with the Civil Procedure Act 2010 (Vic) (“Act”). In Yara Australia Pty Ltd & Ors v Oswal [2013] VSCA 337 the Court of Appeal ordered the applicants’ practitioners indemnify their clients for 50% of the respondents’ costs associated with unnecessary content of appeal […]

Face-to-face with risk

While many of us are paying close attention to a certain group of Englishmen currently making their way around Australia, our interest was also piqued by the umpire’s decision in a recent English case, Procter v Raleys Solicitors (Leeds County Court, 6 November 2013). This case involved a law firm that had represented a former […]

Not so perfect putt

A purchaser who enters into a contract ‘subject to finance’ must act reasonably and without delay in fulfilling their contractual obligations.  This is the lesson to be learnt from the case of Putt v Perfect Builders Pty Ltd [2013] VSC 442 and [2013] VSC 600. You can read this case here. In Putt’s case, general […]

Section 32 and title plans

As part of the land titles automation project the Land Registry create title plans. As a consequence, land is now sometimes described on a certificate of title as a ‘lot on a title plan’. Title plans usually show the diagram of the land which appeared on the paper title and may contain a description of […]

Help us help you

At the LPLC 2013 Risk Management Intensive Program, information was provided about what happens when practitioners notify us of a claim. The video of this session can be viewed here. It goes without saying that the claims process can be a stressful experience. Helping us to help you can reduce the stress. Here are a […]