HIH Claims Support Limited v. Insurance Australia Limited
Case No.
M24/2011
Case Information
Lower Court Judgment
29/09/2010 Supreme Court of Victoria (Court of Appeal) (Warren CJ, Mandie JA, Beach AJA)
Catchwords
Equity — Contribution — Equal and coordinate liability — Scaffolder Steele sub-contracted to Australian Grand Prix Corporation ("AGPC") — Steele held insurance policy with company in HIH group which, but for HIH collapse, responded to Steele's liability to AGPC — Applicant administrator of HIH Claim Support Scheme —AGPC held insurance policy with State Government Insurance Corporation ("SGIC") which extended to sub-contractors — SGIC's rights, liabilities and obligations vested in respondent — Whether applicant entitled to contribution from respondent — Whether liabilities of applicant and Steele and respondent and Steele equal and coordinate — Whether indemnities not coordinate because applicant may recover from liquidation of HIH — Whether equitable doctrine of contribution sufficiently flexible to do "practical justice" — Whether characterisation of separate contracts of insurance as "primary" and "secondary" prevents contribution — Whether relevant date for determining right to contribution is date of indemnity payment or date of casualty.
Documents
11/03/2011 Hearing (SLA, Melbourne)
25/03/2011 Notice of appeal
08/04/2011 Written submissions (Appellant)
08/04/2011 Chronology (Appellant)
02/05/2011 Written submissions (Respondent)
20/05/2011 Reply
02/06/2011 Hearing (Full Court, Canberra)
22/08/2011 Judgment (Judgment summary)